Finished Veilguard...I have thoughts

Been a bioware fan since Jade Empire and pretty much played everything they released between 2004 - Mass Effect 3 on day one. Dragon Age is one of my favourite franchises and I stayed away from Veilguard because I was under the impression it would have been a bad experince.

I was sorely mistaken. After 67 Hours, I've completed my first playthrough of DATV and I'd give it a solid 8/10.

This game looks, feels and plays amazing. I think the style suites Tevinter so well.

One of the biggest gripes people had going from DAO -> DA2 was how they got rid of how the different origins impacted your playthrough and character interactions.

This was somewhat remedied in DAI but just in terms of the race we could pick for our Inquisitor.

I absolutely LOVED how the faction background played a role both damage wise and how it was brought up in different conversations. That + choosing what race you'd want to be made the game feel like a good call back to DAO.

I came into this expect horrific writing, something worse than X-Men Destiny which is the worst game I've ever played.

I found a decent story with a few highs and a few lows but nothing that inherently made me want to cringe and walk away or stop playing.

I enjoyed where they took Solas' arc, tied it to Morrigan and made her/flemeth the connective tissue of all the games.

I surprisingly didnt see the Varric twist coming, Neve is one of my favourite romance options, she reminds me of my own partner so that was fun.

I lost Davrin and Assan in the final mission and since he was one of my favourite and most used party members....that loss really hurt, I felt the void.

It also made me realize that Mass Effect 3 would probably have been better received if its ending had the Suicide run instead of ME2 because it worked wonders here, especially since going in I knew this would be the final DA Game.

Now, Taash....the discourse online would make you think Taash is an affront to the senses...but we found a very sweet story about acceptance presented in front of us. Some of it felt hamfisted because were using 2025 terms in a medieval fantasy setting but honestly, the main story had nothing to do with their gender and it was a coming of age story about accepting yourself.

I was so sad when their mom died.

My Rook was a Human male that weilded heavy armour and a 2H axe. I had a blast with the combat. I did find some of the enemies spongy but overall, I didnt find anything too overbearing.

I really love the whole Elves are really spirits twist. It actually made Solas' actions and appearance in DAI make a lot more sense.

I have no real complaints about the game but I have a lot of complaints towards the fandom....I hate how online discourse and reaction culture has grown over the 2 decades I've been gaming. And there was without a doubt a political agenda to bury this game for no other reason than Taash and peoples obsession to be "Anti Woke" I absolutely despise that this will be the game that kills the IP and it isnt deserved.

Overall I enjoyed my time with DATV, I can see myself wanting to do another playthrough this time as an elf with a Bellara romance but this will be a few months away.

All in all, this is a good game that's extremely overhated and the team that's there deserve another shot at the franchise without EA hovering over them to make it a live service game.