Cohh put it pretty well. Its a fine/10, not really dragon age anymore. Im in it for the story at this point myself

Its funny that dragon age started out as a spiritual successor of the older Baldur's gate games and now people think bg3 is the spiritual successor of dragon age origins so we've come full circle.

Honestly, BG3 had the most DA:O vibes for me.

It's kinda funny how EA/Bioware is chasing the trend, only like 10 years delayed :) Maybe in another 10 years they look at BG3 and decide that cRPGs are popular again.

What really leaves me baffled is that we fucking saw how Baldur’s Gate 3 literally won every possible prize. Tactical RPG games can be amazing, wtf happened to BioWare? I’ve been waiting 10 years, 10 fucking years, man. What a joke.

I think DAO was a stopping point for Bioware pre 2010 and post Bioware 2010. DAO was a spiritual successor to Neverwinter Nights and Baldur's Gate. As for the grimness, that can be explained too. As one of Bioware'a cofounders explained they did want the fantasy of DA to be like Tolkein and Grrm. Which plays into why people love it so much, it was and still is pretty unique. I think the games after DAO started to push out the low fantasy grrm aspects into the usual fantasy stuff. As for the looks, that is more personal opinion. DAO in my opinion has very dated graphics even for the time, like Mass Effect 2 came right after. But I will say that it still managed to have very striking visuals despite it. Which in a way has kind of passed from game to game, though DA2 imo was the worse character wise.

The saddest thing for me is that Bioware never even considered appealing to the Origins fanbase, despite that game being the success. They got tossed out the door for DA2's hack-and-slash, and again for DAI's open world, and again for whatever the hell DAV is. It just gets less, and less, and less RPGish as time goes on.

Hey everyone! Wanted to chime in with what I think is a unique perspective. I'm a disabled gamer who considers himself an Origin fan even though I could never physically play it. Games have to be strictly turn-based or visual novel-style for me to play (Disco Elysium is my favorite game). If Origin was too much for me to play, all the others were obviously too action heavy for me. Having said that, being someone relegated to watching others play, I think action combat LOOKS cooler. Unfortunately, I think going away from CRPG-style games sacrifices not only character build diversity, but narrative agency as well. I say all that to say this: While I wish they had stuck with the Origin formula, I still want to see what happens, and as a rare gamer you can't really take gameplay into account, I'm not quite as upset over the change. Also, as someone who relies on a family member to play games for them, should I encourage them to play the Trespasser DLC? We never did and that's the jumping off point for Veilguard, right? Is there an Ultimate or 'GOTY' edition of Inquisition on Game Pass?

They're doing the exact same thing they did with Dragon Age 2 trying to make it something that it wasn't and it sold less than half of what Origin did. Just give the customer what they want it's not difficult.

This whole sort of vs situation in the community reminds me of star wars fans in way. The only difference being is that I see a ton more blind Dragon Age fans who seem to think that one or three witty characters in an overall grim story makes it have a lighter tone than what people remember. Do people forget Alistar is mainly witty to deflect and because he doesn't want to make mistakes? Zevran knows he could die on any job so he takes his pleasures from any and everywhere he can get them. Morrigan was snippy and taunting towards others to cover her own insecurities. Yes the comedy and light heart moments were their but they weren't the focus nor the entirety of a person's character. Then there is the over focus on character's sexualities which is hilarious whenever someone brings up Origins because just like the light hearted moments, they weren't the driving force of the game. Bioware wasn't known for giving everyone options until ironically after Origins released but people still didn't give them that label, hell Jade Empire had done it years prior but no one talks about it. If anything it's off putting that we get article after article talking about the relationships and sexual nature of the characters before even get to know their personalities. Doesn't help either that it seems Bioware has employed the same kind of people that obsess over this stuff and shout in the reddit that "Dragon Age was always for queer people" to drown out any criticism. Like you said old fans will likely part ways, but I'm not sure that the newer fans the game is trying to attract will actually flock to it let alone stick around. It didn't happen with Saints Row, it didn't happen with Suicide Squad, Forspoken, Andromeda, etc. I don't think it will happen here.

I miss the hours I spent tweeking the Origins AI to perform optimally in combat. 😢

I do not like the companion aesthetics either. None call out to me, be it for party composition or so-called romancing.

origins is still the best dragon age. it was peak bioware, before selling to EA.

Inquisition was my first Dragon Age game. I came back to gaming relatively late, in my mid-40s, just in time to catch the very accessible and appealing entries of franchises in decline (DAI, Fallout 4). So Inquisition got me hooked on the setting and lore of Thedas, which led me to go back to the beginning to play Origins . . . and then I understood. THAT is what Dragon Age was all about! Long story short, my allegiance to Origins is relatively new, but it's enough to make me brush aside the flashy nonsense that Veilguard looks to be.

I wish people would stop calling the new combat modern. It's actually incredibly archaic and dated. There's really nothing different from action games in the last 30 years.

Honestly you see this in a lot of fanbases. Theres always a group that loves the first game and usually hates the additions that future ones bring. Whether that do with direction, gameplay, etc. And then theres the rest of the community lol Personally, every dragon age has brought something new to the table. I’ve come to appreciate them all for what they are. To me the spirit of the series is still present within them all no matter how streamlined the gameplay becomes.

First off, no you're not evil. You have every right to voice your thoughts. My entry point to Dragon Age was origins, although I started playing in 2014 when EA was giving away the game for free as a promo for Inquisition. However, I still played all the way through Origins and DA2 before starting Inquisition. I will say, Dragon Age: Origins was instrumental in inspiring me to start writing. I'm now a published author and I give full credit to the incredible storytelling in Origins, especially the "choose your own adventure" style, where choices in the game I made mattered. However (and this may explain why my opinion departs from yours), I've always been about the story and character interactions far more than the gameplay (coming from playing World of Warcraft since 2006, I'm a happy button masher, and it took me a while to get used to turn-based play in Baldur's Gate 3). Because of this, I've loved every iteration of the game so far, because I'm fundamentally more focused on the story and lore. I can tell with the new aesthetic that BioWare (probably with a push from EA) is trying to appeal to a new generation of player. Game franchises have to evolve if they want to remain relevant, although Baldur's Gate 3 has proven you don't need Fortnight style graphics to appeal to a large audience of fans. You're not wrong when you say that this approach cause BioWare to lose more of (perhaps most of) their original player base, and I think it's valid that people have strong opinions about that. The only negativity I'm upset about (and this is not something you voiced, so thank you) are the "go woke, go broke" comments I've seen. Dragon Age has explored various sexualities and has had a mix of different races and skin tones in every game. It's been "woke" from the start, so I don't understand how anyone would leverage that accusation against The Veilguard unless they've literally never played any of the previous games before.

Origins was the best game in the series because it was an original creation. After Origins Bioware invested their time and effort into twisting their IPs in order to chase other popular games and communities. Bioware turned Mass Effect from an compelling RPG to a hybrid shooter/RPG because they wanted to capture the COD/BF audience. Bioware turned Dragon Age from a compelling, dark RPG to another action RPG because they wanted to capture the Skyrim audience. When Bioware removed the complexity and authenticity they abandoned the core principles that drew the audience to those games.

I am someone who started with Dragon age: Origins, and it is my favorite in the series, and definitely the darkest, but it also sometime has the weirdest dialogue options. Sometime people forget how clunky was the combat and how annoying were the fade and deep roads. But it definitely has some of best world building of any game, some of the best written dialogue ever. I also consider Morrigan is one best character designs of any game (along with 2B from nier automata) Dragon age 2 tried to tell a more personal story, and it is plenty dark, from what happened to hawke's family, to andres blowing up the chantry, to the option to sell Fenris to slavery, to the brutal uprising of the Qunari. They were trying to make dragon age more like mass effect with streamlined combat but that probably hurt the game along with the short development time, i think mark darrah said it was like developed in 14 month. Dragon age inquisition wasn't as dark, while the stakes are high you never felt like threaten in the way origins and DA2 were, however it had the best music in the series, it advanced the lore of so much, and was the best visually, it also improved the combat from DA2, I think it also has some of hte coolest main missions (like the one you went to the future to see how the world happen if you lost, or the political intrigue of court of orlais...). The open world aspect didn't work well in the base game and felt just stretching out the playtime. The DLC of inquisition were top notch and addressed some of the weakness of the open world of the original. I think every game in the series have done some excelled in some things and fell short in others. the gameplay trailer of DA:V so far looked interesting, the environments andeffect looks better than ever, and the combat seems more fluid which i think is a good thing, the half strategic and half-action of DA2 and DA:I felt like the game didn't know what they wanted to be. I am hoping they let go of the bloat in DA:I and focus on great quests instead of dumping tons of tedious side quests.

Honesty, as an Origins fan myself, i felt very...Discarded after seeing Veilguard and reading more details about it, pushed away completely by something i used to love so much. It feels like they pretend that Origins and Origins fans don't exist anymore. And when i went to the DA subreddit to find some people who maybe feel the same way, i found mostly Inquisition crowd discussing how cute the Gryphon was and how nice the hair looked. And yes i was called a nazi a couple of times for disliking the trailer.

Damn bro, this reminds me of Saint's Row 2 fans. And Star Wars fans.

When every game is different than the first one, at some point you have to accept that the first one is the outlier, and the other ones are the norm. Holding on to something that has been gone for 15 years just leads to perpetual misery.

My point of entry to the series WAS, in fact, Origins, and yet I still liked Inquisition. Same thing with several of my friends, one of whom I introduced to the series before Inquisition came out. In Inquisition, I was disappointed with the lack of player agency regarding the narrative, with no compelling "evil" options and no consequences because you're roped into being a hero and a savior, but I still sunk a lot of hours into the game (though probably not as many as Origins, admittedly) over multiple playthroughs just enjoying the world and the characters. The environment was beautiful and atmospheric and I had a lot of fun exploring it, and I loved the companions and found that they still had the charm and complexity of characters from earlier in the series, to where I could find myself understanding where they were coming from even when I didn't agree with them. I was excited to see them finally do something with the magisters after teasing them in the Origins Awakening DLC, and seeing storylines set up in Origins (mage rights issues, rising tensions between various factions, the simultaneous unrest and powerlessness of the elves being fertile soil for radicalization like what Solas would end up doing) progress in the following games was really satisfying to me. To me, Origins was a fantastic origin for the Dragon Age series, but the series is called Dragon Age, so it always made sense to me that it would tell the story of the major historical events that would happen over the span of a few years or decades during the Dragon Age. I didn't anticipate that the series' gameplay would depart so widely from the first game, but hey, I was in it for the story and characters, so that wasn't a dealbreaker for me. About the old characters designs being more "sexy"... I actually thought Leliana looked better in Inqusition. Morrigan also looked super pretty with an updated model. I am a little confused about the discussion of sexy characters in regards to the Dragon Age franchise, though. This is the same game that has regular armor for both men and women and not a platekini in sight. I like platekinis, but they're not really a Dragon Age thing. Dragon Age leans a little more towards realism in regards to design. Also, saying the division is between Origins and the rest of the series and then listing Isabela as an example confused me a little as to your point there. That said, sexiness is subjective, and some people didn't find Morrigan or Isabela sexy at all, like how you probably wouldn't find Iron Bull sexy even though several of my friends wouldn't stop talking about him when Inquisition game came out. It was the same with Isabela and Fenris and I have a sneaking suspicion the same thing will end up happening with Lucanis in Veil Guard lol. Not really my taste but from what I've seen of friends sending me edits and the amount of engagement those edits get, it seems there's a fan base being served with the newer characters, even if you're not a fan of them in particular. I do agree that each game had something of a different vibe to it, but I'm actually glad for that, as they're each their own distinct thing. The story of the Warden, the story of the Champion of Kirkwall, the story of the Inquisitor, they're all intriguing stories to me, but they're naturally different kind of stories, and I like that. I want them to innovate and not just try to recreate the same thing over and over again. I wouldn't want the series to get stale. Honestly, by striking out in new directions, I feel like BioWare actually exceeded my expectations with their sequels. All that said, I'm skeptical of Veil Guard just on the basis that the people who worked on the Dragon Age series have almost entirely departed from the project at this point, so it's in the hands of a team I'm a little wary of. I've seen so many soulless adaptations of things that I've loved, so many examples of people not understanding the intended meaning of the source material and what made it tick, that I'm cautious of a new team taking over Dragon Age. But I'll withhold my judgment until the game comes out and I'll give it a fair shake before I jump to conclusions on whether or not I'd like it.

i probably am in the minority, because i do not care much for gameplay; im a casual player and play games mostly for the story. the dragon age franchise is the only one i have followed since the release of trespasser, in 2015. DA:O was the first videogame i ever finished, and i love it to bits, especially because of how seriously they take the dwarven lore, which is my favourite aspect of the worldbuilding. however, i am very excited for veilguard, because i love this world so much, im eager to see how things are going to play out, and hopefully to see more of the wardens. we disagree on terms of the character design - im already obsessed with some of them - but id like to thank you for the input and the respecftul tone. ive been trying to understand the backlash the followed the veilguard reveal and your video gave me some answers. have a great day!

Ultimately Origins is the best. 2 did an amazing job with the design of the Qunari & the Elves. It also did a good job at giving the series a unique look. As much as I do love Origins, its look is very generic dark fantasy. Inquisition finally gave us playable Qunari & some of the best characters in the series like Solas & Dorian. But overall, both 2 & Inquisition fail completely with the gameplay. Inquisition did end up doing quite well story wise, but Origins is just a complete package. Dragon Age is yet another example of a series completely ditching the RPG genre to appeal to a wider audience. One that wants button mashing simple combat & dialogue that doesn't ask you to think in any way.

It's like a PG rating version of the Origins with none of the edge. They are playing this extremely "safe", where nothing looks threatening, discomforting, or dirty/gritty. They even shaved Varric's chest ffs... And forget about romancing, I don't even wanna be SEEN with these characters! This is not being marketed towards DA:O fans, so I'm guessing they won't mind me not wasting a single dollar on it. Like how I buried C&C franchise forever in my mind with the C&C Rivals reveal, I will do the same here with DA. I wish the game had gotten stuck in dev hell forever as the Dreadwolf... at least its title would've been kinda cool.

So personally I enjoyed all 3. Da2 is my personal favorite but that's because it was my introduction to the franchise. I understand the criticism of DA2 and I agree with a lot of it, but I also understand DA2 had a dev time of 16 months which is insane DAO is the gold standard as a game in the franchise

I'm one of those few people you talked about who loves every DA game equally, although admittedly in different ways for different reasons. they all have their charms, they all have their pros and cons, and they all feel a little bit different, which I see less as a departure from what it once was and more as the world as a whole evolving. in particular I will defend DA2 to my grave, because as poor as the graphics are and as obvious as it is that it was made in a rush, the characters and the story is a lot more mature than people realize, ultimately being an examination of human nature. it's an amazing story, especially for how rushed it was. also, I think it's missing the point to declare characters unattractive when you haven't even learned anything about them yet, and reducing characters like Morrigan Alistair to their looks minimizes what makes them attractive in the first place. maybe the character styles have gotten a little more flamboyant and niche, but I don't think any sweeping declarations about their attractiveness can be made, not to mention that they don't have to even be attractive in the first place to be interesting

I am a fan of Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age: II. For me, Inquisition was the game that really felt off and made the world smaller. Loved Origins for the world, loved Dragon Age: II for the characters.

Does any remember the broodmother part in DAO that was dark and I doubt we'll ever get that kind of dark from this Bioware

You nailed this!

Feel for you my guy. Cause I am an Origins fan. I moved on from the series after playing most of part 2. It is not the same franchise at all now. Which is just sad. Cause Dragon Age could have done what BG3 did at some point. Where they take that formula and make it so good that it gains a mass appeal. Hell Origins is the game I tell people to check out when they ask about something close to BG3.

Casualization has been a disaster for the games industry.

The studio that made Dragon Age Origin is largely the group that made KotOR, Jade Empire, Baldur's Gate 2, etc. None of those people work for BioWare anymore. The studio in it's place I refer to as "EA BioWare", whose focus is on mass accessibility, tokenized diversity, and liberal monetization. Generic, soulless, corporate.

The thing is, by the time DA Inquisition had come out, fans who have been with the franchise from Origins should have realized that Bioware is reinventing Dragon Age with each new game and should have therefore expected that the same will happen with The Veilguard. They do something new with each DA game that makes it almost unrecognizable from the previous entry, so don't expect another Inquisition or another Exodus, and certainly not Origins because the devs have already moved away from that as early as its sequel. Whether or not this "reinvention" of gameplay and mechanics is good is subjective to each player; I, for one, think that the combat felt new and disorienting moving from Origins to Exodus to Inquisition, which made them feel like different game genres. But the characters, companions, story and setting all felt very familiar and grounded on lore established by Origins, so there's still a strong continuity between games. And that continuity and consistency of story quality and companion quality are what I expect to stay unchanged through each "reinvention" that Bioware does to "please" the market and its investors. I understand how this can be disappointing to many fans, and I myself am not happy that they scrapped the tactical mode and ability to directly play as each of your companions during combat. But at the end of the day, if you look back at all three previous games, you'll find that Bioware has always been honest about what they intend to do with each new DA game: they'll experiment with the gameplay and mechanics to match what's currently popular in the market, but they won't let that get in the way of putting you, the player, at the heart of an awesome epic story surrounded by some of the most unforgettable characters in Thedas.

the magic from Origins was how immersive the world was, you could lose yourself in the lore and enjoy the game, the aesthetics and the joy of accomplishing mission, quests and tasks. and of course, let us not forget the beautiful soundtrack

I am one of the people who enjoys all three Dragon Age games and I started with Origins. I also have my criticisms of all three games. I love Origins, but whenever I replay it I remember how much I hate a lot of the missions (the deep roads, hell I have the skip the fade mod installed because that section of the game is painful) and I find the combat to be slow and clunky but I love the story and I love the characters. I don't think any of the DA games are perfect but I have still found things I enjoy about each of them and I think it will probably be the same for me for Veilguard.

Comparing Origins to the rest of the franchise is like comparing Morrowind to Starfield. Some people like a well-rounded meal, some prefer a hamburger even if it is a day old. I have met gamers who cannot see more than the surface of a game, the bling, and any depth is lost to them. The fans of stale hamburgers are not bad people. I just would not join them for dinner.

I loved Origins, but I must admit that my fondest memories are from Dragon Age 2 which is a big guilty pleasure of mine. Inquisition didn't leave any lasting impression on me on the other hand. I barely remember what happened in that game except that the companions were very underwhelming and the open world was empty and boring. Not going to lie, knowing that Veilguard won't be an open world already makes me more interested in it than I was in Inquisition but obviously if good writing is nowhere to be found the game will still be an unmemorable mess just like DA:I was for me.

If they want a NEW AUDIENCE. So be it.. I wonder though how much MONEY they expect to see.

Damn, I couldn't put the whole Origins vs Inquisition thing into better words myself. I had originally replayed Origins multiple times, but I could barely force myself to complete Inquisition once. I was wondering why that is, why I just wasn't drawn to it as much even though it is considered a good game. You definitely nailed it down with this video analysis. Honestly the combat could've taken that turn away from being tactical and I still would have loved Inquisition if it was as deep thematically and the other things you mentioned as Origins was. But it just wasn't. Dragon age 2 was a sort of in between of Origins and Inquisition which still retained some of the Origins story/plot/character vibes. It seems inquisition is where it got lost while keeping its DA name.

I resonate with everything you said, even though I enjoyed DA2 despite its many flaws and tolerated DAI for a few reasons. My heart has always been in DAO, its characters, the incredible writing, emotional charge and the rich lore it laid out. I had a very hard time playing DAI, but I eventually got very interested in Solas' conversations, his knowledge of the Fade and his elegant storytelling, romanced him and was blown away by the revelation of his identity and the implications of it for a future game. They had this one incredible opportunity and blew it in every possible way, you can tell from the gameplay trailer. It made it all the more painful to watch for me and seeing most people gasp exclaiming it redeemed the Fortnite/Marvel featurette made me realize they're either very desperate or so brain-dead they can't see poor writing even when it hits them in the face. See, I remember people mocking those of us who are heavily invested into Bioware romances. It's not my priority when choosing what to play, but it made me play a whole damn game I would have otherwise dropped. And this new abomination has no chance of doing that. Like someone already said, I have mediocre and unattractive people all around me, I like being and being with extraordinary and attractive people in my escapist worlds. Obviously I'm not shallow, I fell in love with the fucking egg man. I'm just tired of purposefully unattractive characters being shoved into me. Same thing happened with Andromeda, the reason I couldn't even give it a chance was because on top of being completely different from my beloved original trilogy (ending excluded) there was no romance to latch onto and grit my teeth through it all. I can write my own ending to Dragon age, already have, many years ago, just like with Mass effect. But it still hurts watching all this unfold and people just putting up with mediocrity and decline, letting games be destroyed by greedy corporations and destructive ideologies.

I was a small child when Origins came out so Inquisition was my introduction to the franchise. While I liked our main group (except Sera she’s annoying) , the Tresspasser DLC and the story concept it suffered from a lot of bland side quest filler that was unrelated to the main story and had a very generic main villain. When I caught wind of Origins existing on KZfaq grabbed out the old PS3 and got a used copy from GameStop. While the graphics were expectedly dated mostly everything was connected to the main story. Not the mention how dark and graphic some story lines got made Inquisition seem like it was made for teenagers.

I loved DAO and hated the way they changed the series with Dragon Age 2, but at least I liked the story and characters. I didn't like the story and characters of DAI so I don't even know why I expected anything else in the next Dragon Age game.

I am an Origins guy through and through (In fact, originally Nervinter Nights and Kotor, which is what i think DAO builds off of). However, ive recently done a full DA play through of all the games and whilst Origins is the superior, the other two are better than i remembered (2 especially). The funny thing is, if Origins didn't exist, would we be raving about the other two's greatness more? A victim of it's own brilliance perhaps. The funny thing about DA is that the running thread of the strory through all the games and the setting it's placed in is exceptional. When they announced DA2 in the boardroom "You're a refuge that escapes the blight and an adventure unfolds", that in of itself is a pretty great premise. At the time we all wanted to continue our Warden's story, but some peoples Wardens were dead so...i never had a problem with it, only it's executioned lacked compared to DAO. And 3, leaning into the mage/templar debate was again an excellent story structure. Should mages be shackled due to the "potential" threat they pose vs the morality of doing that. That's why we hold on... because the running story is great, it's in the how that lies the issue. Plus there's Varric lol, who deserves his spot alongside the likes of Alistair etc. If you threw him into DAO, he'd fit like a glove. Possibly Solas too.

As a fan of origins (a little over 800 hours so… yeah, probably unhealthy) I think this looks fine. I was not deluding myself on the idea that this was going to be a game like Origins, nothing indicated that whatsoever. I am pleasantly surprised by how good it currently is, and I’m disappointed in some people’s childish reaction to it. This game, literally, is more Dragon Age than Origins is. Origins is the odd one out, they’ve all been fairly experimental games but they’ve been trending towards aRPG since DA2. 3/4 games have been more aRPG. Only 1 has been more cRPG. People need to really face it that this series is mostly an aRPG series. I do not like people saying “origins is what dragon age is,” and “origins is dragon age,” because not only is that just not true right on the tin but it doesn’t make sense. Origins is my favorite part of Dragon Age, but that’s all it is. A part. A part that we’ve been moving away from, for better or for worse, for the better part of 15 years. For me… what I want dragon age to be is fun and tell a good story, doesn’t even need to be particularly dark but I do enjoy dark. Tell a good story, have fun gameplay, and I’ll like it a lot because that’s why I liked Origins. Origins did not have good gameplay, that was its weakest part, I still found it fun and enjoyable. It told an amazing story though. Same as the other games, okay but fun gameplay and amazing stories. I’m sure this will do the same even if it doesn’t appeal to my desire to play Origins, I have Baldur’s Gate 3 for that.

I agree with everything you said. What can I say other than I really hope that others will show up with ideas as good like the old Bioware and Larian and give us what we crave? I really hope that Exodus will be such an experience. Man I miss passionate people like Chris Avellone making games that I wanna play in this damn industry.

considering that bioware made neverwinter nights, i was kinda dissapointed a bit by origins smaller pool of character creation choice, skills, spells... it all felt like they want to dumb it down a bit. still liked it though. and than dragon age2 happened and i thought i might buy it on a heavy sale. than i found out about the origin account you need for it... so i just never felt compelled enough. my dragon age story ended with my arcane fighter/bloodmage joining morrigan to see what our son will become.

There was so much about Origins that I loved, but the single biggest thing was the ability to program companion AI similar to FF12. Why did that mechanic die with those two games? It was so satisfying to EARN not having to control your characters in those games. And when you HAD to take back control, you just KNEW shit had hit the fan and you were in for the fight of your life.

mine too. My allegiance is to Origins. Veilguard is a hack and slash even more than Inquisition was.

Listen, you are entitled to your opinion, and as someone who loved Origins and is lukewarm at best on Inquisition, I agree with you on a lot of stuff here. But it's weird to hold up Veilguard against Origins and say 'I wanted this' when there's been no indication BioWare had any intentions of going back to where they started. As much as you or I as (I'm assuming) old men might not have enjoyed Inquisition, critically it was on par with Origins, and commercially it drastically outsold it. So why wouldn't they continue in that direction? If anything, I think Inquisition was hurt by their hesitance to go full action combat, that's clearly what they wanted to do but held back to avoid completely alienating fans of the earlier games. When it comes to character design, that's all personal taste. Morrigan is one of my favorite characters ever, but I also quite liked Cassandra and Josephine from Inquisition, and I look forward to being able to romance Scout Harding for real instead of just the light flirtation we got in Inquisition. Obviously you are not alone in your opinion that the older characters were more attractive, but I think opinions on that vary wildly, just because people are different and have different tastes. As for story themes and depth, personally I think Solas is the most compelling character they've written period. I feel like if you are really under the impression that after Origins all of the themes suddenly got lighthearted or fun, you aren't giving the later games a fair shot. The conflict between mages and templar stays pretty dark throughout, and Inquisition gives you plenty of grim choices with what to do with your enemies and which factions to align yourself with. Anyway, my point here is not to turn my nose up at your opinion, but to encourage you to replay DA2 and Inquisition again, leaving aside your desire for them to be more like Origins. I would love to see more tactical games too, but I think playing through DA2 and Inquisition and judging them on their own merits rather than what we wanted them to be will probably improve your opinions of them. I did this myself a few years ago after a long conversation about the series with a friend, and it was definitely an exercise I can wholeheartedly recommend to others. Might give you more hope for Veilguard as well.

I think you hit the nail on the head, one thing I feel like rarely gets mentioned along with the setting and tactical changes is that even the power fantasy provided by DAO was better. Have the grey warden go up against the inquisitor and Hawk at the same time and they would spank them both, like what is that little fire ball gonna do as they drop a maelstrom of magic the size of a small town on top of your head

Something I would like to point out is that if like me you started on console for DAO, then the changes through the games are a lot less noticeable or extreme. Like DAO plays almost exactly the same for me as DA2 and DAI was mostly the same as DA2.

I used to think this way, and I just find myself being exhausted fighting a battle that doesn't have to happen. Origins fans vs everyone else? A whole clash for what? The gameplay trailer for Veilguard built up that urgency for me and learning surface level information about the companions just made me want to keep turning the page to find out more. At the end of the day, it's a game and you don't HAVE to like every iteration of the DA universe. The DA universe remains the same throughout and ultimately it's what I fell in love with. I am anticipating how they'll tackle the topic of slavery being a norm in Tevinter. I want to see political and religious struggle, experience the Black Divine's rule. What's their policy on lyrium use? I want to hear what Tevinter's people know about the blight, what their recorded history is. I want to see Nevarra's necropolis, get deep dive videos on necromancy and it's ethics. I want to see how a society that's run by mages holds up compared to ones controlled by our chosen Divine in Inquisition. So many questions! And none of them involve gameplay, graphics, etc.

I respect and understand your opinion and those that share it. I too prefer origins over all the other titles but its been so long that somewhere along the way I have given up DA returning to its origins roots and in this I have come to like the other titles in their non origin ways. Admittedly, I'm mostly into the DA lore so the next games could be point and click for all I care lol.

It's not just Origins and its comparison, or the loss of dark fantasy and deeper themes. They barely showed anything in the gameplay demo, except attack spamming and dodges. At the very least, they could have shown gameplay in a later stage of the game with more than 1 skill.

I played all the Dragon Age games and while different, I loved them all in their own ways. What I don't do is play Fallout 4 then constantly pine for Fallout 1 because Fallout 1 is the best Fallout with a true grim dark post apocalypse without any of the lame 20s radio stations blasting everywhere. This doesn't mean that I can't appreciate Fallout 4 for what it is while still loving Fallout 1. The same applies to the Dragon Age franchise. After 3 radically different sequels, Dragon Age Origins fans should know better.

Story has always been my main reason for playing DA, so the shift to a more action based combat was less of an issue for me than some. While there were parts of DAII I enjoyed, the story felt overall more shallow, rushed and *incomplete* so almost didn't play DA:I. In the end I caved because for my love of the world/lore. I did get excited for Dragon Age again after DA:I and that was strictly because of Solas. It was a chance to take a very stereotypical overused character--ancient evil god who wants to destroy the world and turn it on his head by making it extremely personal for the player, even if there would be a new main character (although some of that connection could have been maintained in the story by making the new player character an Inquisition member or something similar). Romanced him or punched him, through the Inquisitor the player knew Solas; was betrayed by him. Now they are going to replace that connection with two other ancient evil gods that want to destroy the world that I don't know from Adam. I love the world of DA, I have all the books, the comics, lorebooks and between all three games I've easily played over a 1000 hours. I'll probably watch Ash's stream and based on that decide if I will purchase the game eventually just to experience the answers to some of the questions I've had for over a decade or just get them from youtube. This feels like at best preparing having one last to have hurrah before saying goodbye.

I was onboarded to the IP by Dragon Age 2 and am part of a very, very small group of people who remember it fondly. It actually took me a while to get into origins after that because I found the combat clunky. (I was not playing on PC. ) But I powered through the gameplay of both installments because I adored the tone and how unafraid the series was to go there. DA2 could be very gruesome. As someone who is very close to his mother, Leandra's fate was an absolute punch in the gut. And it could be subtle, too. Leandra's eye color changes; the implications of which are downright nauseating. Inquisition had its moments too. But by then the series had inverted genres. Origins was first and foremost a horror game with fantasy trappings. And it made you participant in its atrocity and depravity. Or you could stand against these and suffer the consequences. Veilguard looks less like a nightmare and more like a douchy tech bro's bad Ayahuasca trip. Granted, this is harrowing in and of itself, but it's not the harrowing many of us wanted. Veilguard makes my skin crawl for very different reasons.

For starters, the reason why I clicked on this video to begin with, it was because of the thumbnail, because of Morrigan. 😍 I'm one of those people who has said what you've just mentioned at 8:25 and at 9:03. I commented that in another video by ENDYMIONtv just a day before this video. I used to watch the trailers for Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age 2 and I thought "Okay, there's Morrigan, she looks interesting and beautiful and I liked her voice and badassery, if there's romance in the game I'll romance her. Leliana sounds cute and deathly with that French accent she can also be interesting to romance and see her path. Isabella, a Pirate, sassy and saucy like a catwoman and very attractive and the trailer showed in the flashbacks the main character having a romance with her...I'll romance her too". When it came to Dragon Age Veilguard and I saw the companions, no one looked like "oh okay, I could romance her or care for her". What's to care about the story when the player doesn't have one character to connect to and prioritize as one could have in Origins and DA2. It just loses the appeal and interest. Thanks for the video and I agree with all of it spoken in the video.

I'm an Origin fan. Was reminded of the first time I played a noble and the prologue made the mission personal. The story was that quick to gain my investment. Inquisition tried to recapture that and I didn't hate the game. I've played it a lot, but I wasn't crazy about the artistic changes. There is nothing in the new trailer that appeals to me. It is like they took everything wrong and enhanced it. It's nice that people are excited, but I'm not one of them. I'm subbed now lol. After watching three or four of your vids I figured I'd hit the button. It's nice to hear an adult perspective on this stuff.

Origin's gameplay was excellent. No other dragon age captured it and ruined it. And now they completely abandoned it.

I agree with you wholeheartedly. After the Veilguard reveal, I have concluded that I am no longer the customer that BioWare is marketing to. I will not be getting that game or any BioWare products moving forward.

As someone who started the Dragon Age series with Origins just some odd months ago, I personally am excited for Veilguard. I think that a lot of Origins fans are not necessarily "Dragon Age" fans, and that given how the games have progressively been more streamlined overtime into becoming action RPGs, there is a veil of nostalgia preventing a lot of Origins fans from acknowledging any positives of the future games. While I understand some sentiments from this video, I feel like Veilguard is really going to distinguish for good the difference between DAO fans and actual Dragon Age fans. While there are a lot of things in Origins I wish the franchise still had, I think that Origins at its core has aged very poorly and phenomenally in certain aspects. I feel like the Origins fans who grew up with the game can have valid arguments, but handle the shift in combat and mechanics in a very immature way. I'm pleased to say this video displays one of the more level-headed responses I've seen from an Origins fan, though.

Clearly, you’re one of my tribe. I’ve had trouble finding you. Subscribing now for this reason alone, and hope to find more over time.

Origins was a one hit wonder. Then the IP has had an identity crisis with each release DA II, DA inquisition. Each stripping the original tone, story and lore whilst pushing action arcade gameplay and imitating Mass Effect. Plus taking liberties with the setting to accomodate "modern sensibilities" I mean look the veilguard roster, a black elf warden, an asian elf mage (never saw a single elf that was not caucausian in Origins), a brown human mage she could be from Rivain (Islamic Spain and north africa) so all good (but then the mage from Orlais, which is basically France was black in Inquisition). At least both dwarves are still caucausian, like in Origins. Then a spaniard Salvador Dali looking Necromacer, he is from Navarra (white spain) so makes sense all good. They are really chasing the woke diversity quota when it comes to retconning Elves and pushing a disney Marvel feel good narrative.

Just give the franchise to Larian and it will be in good hands.

I still play Origins today. The game holds up like reading Lord of the Rings; you can tell it's old but still gold

It's not fair to say its only DA:O fans that are concerned. My favorite Dragon Age game was Inquisition and I would say the trailer shows a massive departure from even that. There was no swapping between party members at all and there was only one ability showcased and it was used sparingly. Safe to say the Tactical Camera is gone as well. Veilguard struck me as a generic hack-and-slash game.

Completely agree. 100%. Well presented.

I stand with you. I have been brainwashing myself to accept this because of the lore and the world I loved since origin.

This is really gets to the root of why there is such a schism in the fanbase. Speaking as one of them though, I do think Origins fans should probably have gotten over it by now, they haven't been catered to by this studio for 15 years. Baldur's Gate 3 is its closest analog.

As a former warden. "I will do whatever it takes to fight and resist the modern blight threat." I owe it to Duncan, Alistair, and my old god baby.

The setting is big enough for proper cRPGs and more action driven games. I think franchises like Pathfinder, Pillars of Eternity, games like Rogue Trader and DEFINITLY the recent Baldur's Gate 3 have shown there is a big enough market for proper cRPGs with more tactical combat, and more complex RPG systems. When it comes to the atmosphere, the tone of the game and maturity of its content, I feel that is also driven by the target audience as much as politics. Have you noticed there was NO blood or gore at all in the gameplay demo? You won't have heavy adult themes in games which are marketed to get access to children with their daddies credit cards.

Kinda glad in a weird retrospective way that this new dragon age isn't like origins was. Lets say they go full tactical based combat again, do you think it would be superior to baldurs gate 3? Highly fucking doubt it. Everyone would instead complain it looks like diet BG3. At least this way theres some difference. Ive played the hell out of bg3 so i dont mind a dif system instead of more tactical combat turn based.

That's very interesting, for me Origins had a very basic fantasy story and I didn't get "hooked" into DA world until DA2, which is still my absolute favourite. We will see how Veilguard is when it actually comes out, but so far no DA game have dissapointed me so I eagerly await whatever's next :)

Related to the question of aesthetics, though the world is high fantasy, the garb and weaponry was fairly grounded in a more lord of the rings style in Origins. The further away they get from origins, the more "JRPG" a lot of the character designs feel. We are expected to believe that Neve's mortarboard-funeral-veil-detective-hat is adequate attire for adventuring and that it' somehow stays on her head during combat. I'm all for wacky JRPG character design, but it just doesn't mesh with what Dragon Age was.

A modern game for a modern audience indeed.

Yup. I am just tired of the boring and downright ugly characters. I can literally walk outside every day and see unexceptional, unattractive people, hell I am one myself! All the more reason to want to escape and look at visually appealing characters... which Bioware has decided to forswear for some strange reason!

I did not play any of the previous games, but based on your description, I'd probably have enjoyed origins when I was younger. Now a days, when you hear people complain about the sexiness of characters in media, the complaints are typically coupled with words like "DEI" and "representation" (said in contempt) and I really appreciate that you didn't do that here bc those types of people are so tiresome. I'll probably give this game a go and see how it is, but it probably won't give me as much enjoyment as it would've if it stuck to handling those dark/edgy/mature themes.

I don't even think it's about a departure from Origins. Veilguard seems like a departure from Inquisition as well. And I think this problem actually started with Trespasser, where the story was put on rails and player choice really started being ignored or funneled down into two choices or even one choice that BioWare was able to manage and mold into the story they wanted to tell. Ignore the bad graphics and questionable gameplay from the demo and just focus on the elements of player choice and storyline. Rook's responses are mostly scripted, not confirmed by the player. And the party companions often contradict what he says they should do. Any dialogue choices he does get are basic and consist of essentially two options. Meanwhile, look at the story. We START the game by finding Solas and confronting him. What, then, was the point of finding people Solas didn't know? And why introduce these people to him so soon after acquiring them? And why is it that Varric is the one confronting Solas? Why not our Inquisitor, as promised at the end of Trespasser? Why not Rook, our new protagonist? It's because BioWare no longer cares about the RPG element of this franchise. BioWare only wishes to talk to itself through their own characters, not give us the option to create our own and affect the story in numerous ways. BioWare wants to take the easy way out. Those left at BioWare simply aren't creative or passionate enough about the franchise to do it any justice.

Nothing can beat saving the world with Morrigan and a lil dog 😎

It all boils down to a maturity difference. The frustration is from the change to simplicity and mundanity from the complex and nuanced. This is reflected in both design, mechanics, and narrative. The outrage is derived from the perceived reason of change: money. It simply cannot be believed that anything other than greed drove out the soul of the franchise. The game will be good, but I can not imagine it reclaiming its soul. It will not contain what made Origins timeless.

I agreed with almost everything - although I entered DA with Inquisition, and escalated to liking Origins - I hated everything I saw about VG (r.i.p Dreadwolf - i mean, the dropping of the original name is already thre prelude to disaster lol). That being said, I think it is really impossible to replicate Origins easily, because it is a masterpiece in so many aspects, but all the other games did have a sense of continuity - and I am not seeing any continuity in this (let's not forget Inquisition introduced us Solas, like or hate him - this character is extremely well written, I dare say one of the most interesting characters in the franchise alongside Flemeth.) This expands to a much more deep debate, I think. It is about settling for things done in a shitty way. Take a look around, even the things we buy for our houses, it is all plastic and fragile and it seems like it is getting worse everyday. From netflix to food, everything seems to be cheap, dumb and done in a careless way. I can't understand how there are DA fans accepting this, being brought up to the game by Inquisition is no excuse. The tone is totally different, the graphics are sloppy and now we were informed that there will be only 3 slots for skills? I would love to be a fly in Bioware's office to know what these people are thinking, if they really believed all these decisions are good ones. I'd rather wait more ten years than getting a shitty game of such an incredible story. Yes, the game did not come out yet, but everything I saw until now is screaming disaster. This game won't have any soul because the people involved in this don't even like this universe, as it seems. Anyone who read all of this, sorry lol I can't express enough how disappointed I am with all of this

I think you overstate your case. The combat in DAI was quite good. The AI scripts were not as good as in Origins, but setting up companion abilities to proc combos was a lot of fun. And the opportunity to create interesting builds (both for MC and companions) kept me coming back for more. The companions were also quite good, and well voice-acted (Sera and Dorian are my favorite companions for the entire series). The shortcoming of the game was the pacing of the story and the fact that it always seemed to lack any kind of urgency, resulting in over-leveled parties and most areas seeming too easy even on Nightmare difficulty. Players have different tastes, of course, but I see no obvious reason why someone who loved Origins shouldn't also love Inquisition.

I remember seeing some "Community council" person on Twitter, which from what I know is just influencers, not sure how they represent the entire community, say that if you only like DAO you aren't a real fan. It says alot about how much the fandom hates how much we love what the game once was. Not sure if it's Bioware or EA feeding them that to say, but it still hurts how much this game has fallen into disrepair.

Yall are respectfully, incorrectly nostalgic. The issue with Dragon Age Origins was, the action combat was bad (it was old school MMO combat). So, most people scrolled their view out and went Tactical Mode. They have made the Action combat better in every iteration. However, you can still scroll out into Tactical Mode. That never changed. You dont fully build your own character, you use preset origins (which was why they titled the first DA "Origins" to highlight that feature, and not because it was the original game). That never changed. The skill unlock system never changed. The world lore is consistent. Dragons tend to be poweful mages, or gods, or a select few are naturally born as dragons. So what has changed. As I said, the action combat option has gotten better. The major cast has changed. And most important, the setting has changed. I saw someone complaining about the Veil Jumper being too cozy with hopping in and out of the Fade. However, it is a faction in Tevinter because the magisters where never as fearful of the Fade as Thedas. Tevinter is the type of place where not only would people delve into the Fade to find more power, but would not be afraid to make deals with, or try to enslave a demon. I think people are just being really weird for no reason.

I wanted to give up so bad but like you, I'm clinging on for dear life. As a big fan of Origins, I, a grown-ass man, was almost brought to tears when they introduced their new characters. Edit: it's a painful/sad tears not a happy one. But you know what? If this is the final Dragon Age game, have all the previous heroes including the new one interact with one another, join forces in the final mission to put an end to this biggest threat and let Dragon Age die with a bang. I'd rate this 10/10 best Dragon Age game ever. It'd be as awesome as Spider-Man No Way Home.

I very much agree with your sentiments on the series. DA:O is my favourite game of all time. The thoughtful written dialogue combined with sublime voice acting, character choices, and tactical combat really made for an immersive experience like no other. Something I found interesting is that PC players tend to rate DA:O's gameplay more favourably than console players. Yet, Bioware's decision was to double down in the 'consolification' of the series despite the disparity. Something as simple as introducing dialogue wheels was already detrimental to the dragon age experience for me, let alone button mashing combat. I finished DA2 and thought it was barely decent given the rushed development, but I could not get through more than a few hours of DA:I despite many tries. I always see many comparisons of BG3 to DA:O, but I feel like BG3 really lacked the depth, nuance and subtlety that DA:O had in their writing and dialogues (which you eloquently described using examples like the elven alienage).

I understand the appeal of Dragon Age: Origins, but it was released 16 years ago. It is important to acknowledge that nostalgia may be influencing our perception of the game. When I hear people constantly praising Origins, I can't help but think of my father in the 90s, who insisted that his 8-track player was superior to my CD player. Similarly, he would argue that movies of his time had better stories despite weaker special effects. In reality, people may not necessarily miss Dragon Age: Origins itself, but rather the simpler time it represents. I am not saying people should preorder or blind buy, but some of this online outrage towards EA/BioWare that they have earned over time seems excessive .

I feel like the differences between DAO, DA2 and DAI are overstated, though I can certainly see why people have an extreme attachment to DAO. For me, DAO and DAI are near perfect games and DA2 was fine (but under-rated). The breaking point for me is that Veilguard doesn't let you control your companions and doesn't seem to have any meaningful tactics, in a way that all the previous titles did.

Great video! I think you expressed exactly how I and many other original DA fans feel.

Cmon with DA2, DA2 is still very much an RPG with rpg systems, it's not action combat, it's animations are just better. It's nigh exactly the same system, it's inquisition when it went off the rails. Also you wanna talk about dark, dude, what happens to your mother in DA2 is literally more horrific than anything in DAO, and DAO IS dark, ur right. I feel like the hate for DA2 is literally just from people getting on a rage train about other games and the games industry and just being lead by their emotions. You're smart, I can tell, and reasoned, but that is now, are you sure you aren't applying your current intellect and reason to your old self? Maybe you were just more emotional back then, because despite having a less expansive land mass, DA2 has all the same stats, that do the same things, and don't start with the dialogue wheel, there is plenty of times u can expand it and come up with like 6 more options to pick. The combat system is the same, your char just looks better and moves cooler, the story and roleplay is great, there are dark themes, the premise is interesting. you get a lot of cool lore, etc. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that game. I like DAO and DA2, and don't like the rest, I do agree DAO is better than DA2, But DA2 is just excellent, and people saying it's not are just going with herd mentality.

I played origins, Dragon, age 2, and inquisition. I love them. i don't mind change. BG3 was dragon age origins 2 honestly. I will play the new dragon age game. I understand its not for everyone but still. I an excited for it.

I started and loved Origins and but also loved Inquisition for very different reasons. Origins definitely had better side stories, in my opinion, but the main plot was a bit nonsensical. Inquisition had a great main story, but all the side stories lacked moral ambiguity and made everything clearly good vs. bad. As for combat, the days of traditional turn-based combat are over. Origin fans, as well as FF and many other RPG fans, need to accept that large studios are not interested in slower BG3-style mechanics due to the learning curve and "complexity" for the Fortnite-minded TikTok generation. Regarding more mature-rated themes, I can see that. Slowly, the series seemed to move us towards more of a high fantasy style world with clear good and bad without telling the whole story or though process of NPC like other bioware titles like Jade empire, Kotor and ME.

They said the same thing when Inquisition released. How it wasnt like origins or as dark. But I think the story and lore of the games is just. So. Damn. Good. That people are going to jump on board. I played all the games and I loved them all. So Im ready for what Veilguard has to show me.

I find myself more and more in the category of "if none of the character hit a certain appeal to me i dont bother regardless of gameplay or overall story" which has me playing JRPGs mostly. i liked DA:I and want to know how ME5 will go, but im on the fence with this one

Allegiance to a GAME? I've played all the DA games and had fun with what they were without putting any of them on a pedestal. "Allegiance" makes it sound like I've stumbled onto some sort of odd DAO cult.

I really appreciate that all of the stuff you put out is thoughtful and encourages genuine discourse. I wholeheartedly agree with your take.

I definitely see where you are coming from. I myself started the series with Inquisition, and then played my way back to Origins to get a fuller grasp of the lore and story. It was such a struggle for me to play the tactical gameplay of Origins compared to Inquisition as basically a completely new gamer (I had only played like 2 assassins creed games before lol). To me the games were so so different from each other but I still enjoyed both my experiences. So I get what you are saying, that BioWare are no longer making a sequel to Origins but focusing on improving Inquisition. But for me who started with Inquisition I'm so grateful to have found a game that I felt so at home with. It was such a relief to find an accessible AAA game that was not just catered only towards the typical straight white male gamer. After playing Inquisition I was just so excited to play more games and have since played tons more games! But if it hadn't been for BioWare's departure from Origins I might not have stuck with gaming and missed out on so many great adventures and even some friendships that formed as a result. So I'm personally happy that they are taking the less tactical and grim route with their games, since it appeals more to me. But I understand it completely sucks that the fans of Origins are hoping and waiting for a game that might never arrive.