#i'm a total sucker for smaller scale stories and doomed narratives so it has a special place in my heart

[sab-cat]

Unfortunately for Bioware, we can answer the question, "what does a bare bones Dragon Age game look like?" It's Dragon Age 2.

DA2 was done in about 14 months, and it's hard not to answer "development hell" or any other excuse with that fact. It set the minimum standard for storytelling in the Dragon Age series (if not Bioware RPG's generally). If you had more time and didn't tell a story as cohesive or compelling as DA2, that's a problem.

And any time I try to give the Veilguard team some credit, like it being more of a direct sequel than DA2, that 14 months just comes roaring back. DA2 should haunt Bioware. Not because of its poor reception but because it's the bare minimum.

i think veilguard feels short because the story is very barebones? when you take out quests about acquiring the companions and later on the companions quests there's not much plot related quests to go on (like the first 20 hours of the game is just getting the companions,), compared to earlier games where even if you only got the first three default companions there was a lot of stuff to do

I agree dear listener. I think the best way I've come to explaining what it is like when you walk past what you think is a really cool oil painting and then you stop and realise it's a print with textured glaze. It's such a beautiful world and Veilguard's story is really interesting, there's just no meat in the sandwich... you eat it but you're not full afterwards

I'm trying (not always succeeding) to not to compare Veilguard to the earlier games because it's a fine game it's just not a good dragon age game, you know?