They'll just invent another one in a few years or even less, don't worry.
Before woke it was political correctness, which nowadays mostly "can't joke about anything anymore" comedians use, and there was more before pc until we get to the original "cultural bolshevism" about destroying the "values of the West".
It's all the same dumb narrative getting spun with different keywords.
yep "woke" "dei" "critical race theory" "diversity hire" all the exact same thing re-buzzworded ad nauseam for decades so the same people can complain about the exact same imaginary problem forever
The important thing to remember is this... BG3 was hugely successful, same with TLOU2 and Horizon: Forbidden West. All supposedly 'woke'. Alan Wake 2 and Spiderman 2, both very well received, also apparently 'woke'.
These guys are the epitome of a vocal minority. They dogpile onto anything that goes against their ill-defined opinions, even games they clearly have no interest in, and ultimately... they don't actually really matter.
The gaming industry has moved on, and society has moved on, from what they want. They're just a bunch of sad, social-regressives shouting into the void about how everything sucks, when everyone else is actually just enjoying these great games
I agree. Normies aren't terminally online, listening to and watching video essays about why "woke ideology is ruining gaming". They're just going to go out and buy the game that everyone else is playing or that their friends tell them is good.
Despite all the negative comparisons the first trailer had to Fortnite and Valorant, the last time I checked, those games were very popular. So making that comparison is more an admission of contempt than any actual critique of the game itself.
I know many, many people for whom BG3 was their first experience in anything related to D&D. That game did not become the success that it was because it catered to the whims of a bunch of parasocial online content mills. If the game succeeds, it will be because reviewers and players like it, and if it fails, it will be because people did not enjoy it.
He’s one of the richest people on the planet. Unfortunately when you have that much money nothing can stop you from being an unhinged lunatic. Doesn’t make his opinions the majority or any more valid. Just means his money lets him screech the loudest
It's the most pathetic thing that's come about in a while. ESPECIALLY when it comes to Dragon Age. The franchise has always been very progressive so I don't see why people are suddenly caring now. i saw a lot of backlash for creating black elves too and it going woke because of that when there was literally no saying that elves were only white in the first place, not to mention in past games darker elves have been seen.
It's funny how words that mean "Enlightened" means bad.
Or how "Liberal" means bad, when it really means "free minded", and at the same time these people say how they love freedom? 😄
Just shows how little people think when they invent these words.
Yeah, if you look at the proportions of likes/dislikes to the amount of views on the video it is pretty obvious. Most videos get similar amounts of likes(a bit more to be fair) to this trailer, just look at Elden Ring [trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8k8R0Q2ubY&t=1s), but without the dislikes. This meant almost the double amount of people left an impression to this trailer, that is usually a sign that it's not entirely genuine(even if it is not a targeted campaign).
You beat me to it. Sure, it might be a sign of how the general discourse is going to go but internet discourse (or even the diehard fanbase for that matter) has little if any impact on how the sales are going to go or how the corporate side of EA is going to handle EA going forward.
It might be. I've never hyped for other games, so I might've just overreacted a little. Or not a little. If you don't mind me asking, what are the best communities I can look for? Except for this Reddit, of course
You can join the Bioware discord. So far everything has been positive, but not without valid criticism. I had a fun time there talking about the game while watching the gameplay.
Also keep in mind both Twitter and YouTube are bot cesspools.
Yes, the bots! Some of the comments may not even be real people.
It really sucks to see something I love get needlessly shat on, but yeah, as other folks said, best option I've found is to just stick to here and the Discord.
Other communities, I’m not so sure… threads has been a bit more upbeat on the dragon age content imo? That and reddit. And tbh if reddit is feeling pretty good is usually good because most people I know will consult reddit for opinions on games over other places 🤷♂️
It is tricky when you’re hyped for something and people hate on it for invalid reasons too.
Edit: invalid reasons do not include criticisms involving personal taste. Eg, not being a massive fan of the art style.
By invalid reasons I mean only anti-wokism only. Other ones are interesting to read, unless they're extremely toxic but I haven't seen much of these with valid points
I’m easy to please but I love my Pokemon games. I am convinced that every game with a big fanbase will be full of complaints no matter how well done the game is
Pokemon is a fantastic example because, like Dragon Age, they have a loud section of people who refuse to accept that anything after the first generation (Origins) is worth playing.
Twitter is even worse than YouTube likes/dislikes. Everything is too woke for a vocal minority these days so I'd just ignore it.
Against my better judgement, there's a few games that warrant a preorder from me personally, and Dragon Age Veilguard will be one of them. Can't wait to play it. BioWare has my whole heart with every Dragon Age game they've released so far.
Well EA is also called the studio killer, so I think its actually fair to worry about the game. If the same amount of hate continues on release it might not end good for Bioware in the long run
Inquisition received a lot of hate before and after release, and was one of the two BioWare open world "failures" that led into Anthem and the days where we wondered if BioWare was done for good.
It also won Game Of The Year.
You're looking at it the wrong way, it not likes/dislikes it's all engagement. In any event EA will care about money and nothing else so I wouldn't worry too much.
They care about money, true, and that's why I'm afraid that DA4 might not pay off. That worries me the most, and judging by reaction, there's a high possibility of it
There’s also reviews and more to still come out too. Many (almost all) articles that have come out from reporters from the demo are overwhelmingly positive. If the game keeps up the quality, combat engaging, performance good, visually stunning, captivating narrative etc… the game could review really well and that will do heaps for it. Plus review bombs of games that are anti woke etc usually just bring more publicity and the people that don’t care about that will realise how good the game is. BG3 for GOtY and had heaps of backlash on things like Twitter…
Honestly I doubt it. Dragon Age is a pretty established series and while BioWare has certainly had some serious flops recently I think so long as the game itself is good we have nothing to worry about. Even the people crying about the game are probably going to buy it just so they have more things to complain/troll about.
But hey, we should always be prepared for everything. Who knows what EA is thinking.
It's *because* of Anthem (and Andromeda) that DA4 failing will kill bioware. And honestly I'm happy with that, *if* DA4 isn't good, I don't have much faith in bioware anymore either, and would be fine with DA4 just putting bioware out of its misery.
Things looked pretty bleak after Anthem and Andromeda, but I would argue the Mass Effect Legendary Edition is the main reason we're still getting DA4. We were hanging on threads of hope for a long long time with DA4, getting drip fed promises that yes, it was still coming, despite all evidence to the contrary. Then the Legendary Edition came out and was an all round success, showing EA and BioWare that their games are popular and can make good money in the modern gaming scene. Add to this the success of major single player story focused games over the past few years, such as the newer GoW games, Elden Ring, BotW and most recently BG3, and I think BioWare is being looked upon quite favourably atm.
DA4 doesn't need to be GOTY, it just needs to not flop as hard as Anthem and Andromeda. And even if it does, I think it unlikely that they'll cancel production on Mass Effect 5 after the success of the Legendary Edition.
But if both DA4 and ME5 sell poorly and get critically panned, then you may be right and we'll be witnessing the last breaths of BioWare. I don't think that's likely though.
I think ME5 would be the final straw in that case, as it's already in development. If Veilguard fails, I think it'll mean corporate-mandated changes for ME5, whether for better or worse. Probably worse, since they'll try to overcorrect and turn it into a GAAS or something.
I think ME5 would be cancelled if DA4 failed hard enough. Remember that the last ME game *also* was a failure. Three colossal failures in a row and no successes over ten years would be a disaster of epic proportions.
Yep, these people talking about it being a failure are talking out of their arses. It was heavily criticised by the exact same people criticising Veilguard right now (including threats to devs), and whilst Andromeda had its issues, they were fixed up and the game sold great on Steam.
Anthem was the genuine flop.
Very angry vocal minority who bizarrely hate the thought of treating all humans equally and compassionately. They can hit that dislike button all they want.
If the game previews and reviews well, Bioware will be absolutely fine with sales. Well reviewed fantasy RPGs tend to sell very well =)
I feel like everyone hated on Inquisition at release, and yet it was still the best-selling Dragon Age game in the series.
So I wouldn't worry about it too much.
(Looks through my mind portfolio regarding DAI hate at release)
Holy smokes I remember that one…..that was a huge yikes back then.
And that was AFTER the Mass effect 3 fiasco
DAI hate really was that bad? I wasn't a fan back then because I played DA2 as a child, thinking that I could turn into a dragon and I was disappointed. I had a personal vendetta against dragon age for crushing my little child heart lol
Lmao that is really cute.
But frankly the hate back then was…..pretty bad from what I remember. I could be mistaken and remembering things wrong but it wasn’t exactly a good time for any of us actually looking forward to the game.
However the hate that this game is receiving is so much worse
No you’re right. DA:I was very much hated by a percentage of the fanbase for “dumbing things down” and not going back to Origins and this was after the whole thing with ME3. It was also well received critically by the press and then things calmed down and most people came around to it though many still didn’t like it.
I personally enjoyed it from the beginning but I’ve also enjoyed the whole franchise, some more than others.
I remember the hate being much louder for da2 myself. There was for sure cynicism surrounding inquisition, but at least on launch people were more positive about it.
I’m rather happy people these days tend to look back on da2 more fondly at least. I played it in high school after origins and I always felt like my taste was “wrong” since (though critics liked it well enough) fans disliking it was such an overwhelming sentiment.
Suppose in that sense, cynicism surrounding Veilguard could be seen in different light. We’ve been here before, everyone’s always cynical before a new dragon age. Whether it saves Bioware or not, I’m pretty optimistic this one is going to be a good time for dragon age fans who hadn’t already jumped ship.
I have people defending Inquisition's flaws in order to shit on DAV.
Like really, you're going to be nostalgic about the game ya'll hated on just to hate. Crazy.
Let's not forget that there are these kinds of people every Bioware cycle.
Even before the release da:i received similar hate as datv now. Now there’s weirdos complaining that the Rook in the gameplay trailer is black, back when da:i gameplay was first revealed the same weirdos complained that the inky in the video was a female qunari. Apparently that meant that BioWare hates men.
There's still those mad about femshep being put on the cover of 3. Which is a lot more reasonable than being mad that the custom character isn't your very spesific skin color.
And of course poor Davrin - is joining the Jacob, Viv and Wyll club of people not wanting black people in their fantasy games.
To me the claims that the game would be "about gays" or "forced diversity" makes so little sense at this point. We know nothing about the characters (save for the ones that have appeared in Tevinter Nights or the comics), and yet these people claim their hate isn't based on the characters' race or sexuality, but on... something? when absolutely nothing in either of the reveal trailers has even referenced the characters' sexualities, race, or gender. At this point they just are there and happen to look a certain way.
So true. I have some criticisms of DAI but at the end of the day I've got over 1000 hours in the game and I love it to pieces. If DA4 is as good as DAI ill be happy.
Wouldn’t worry about it. This game was always going to face an uphill battle when it comes to initial reception. Whether it’s the part of the fanbase that only likes Origins, or the anti woke weirdos who are pretending they wouldn’t cry about the old games if they came out now. Plus BioWare’s reputation hasn’t been the best lately.
BUT I’ve seen a lot more positive reception to the game after the gameplay reveal on twitter, before it was mostly negative but now it seems pretty split.
It’s important to remember that the amount of people who engage in discourse about games in any real way are a huge minority. If the game is good and reviews well it should be fine.
Edit: Reread this comment and me saying “people who only like origins” was way too reductive. Should’ve worded it better, I mostly meant people who are unhappy with the direction of the combat going even further away from DAO (and the other games as well) which is a valid complaint.
It's a combination of several factors, I think.
Reasonable gripes about gameplay + People daydreaming and then disappointed about a return to Origins-style combat + People scared off by the initial trailer + Anti-woke crowd + Hate bandwagoners + Bioware having lost their reputation + All the concerning news about the troubled development of the game in the past decade
It was destined to be an uphill battle. I like most of what I've seen to date and my very cautiously optimistic view of the game seems to have been rewarded so far.
Of course I'll have to have the game in my hands to make a better judgment, and a lot of things can happen at release (I'm kinda worried about bugs\\performance issues at launch, which is something that concerns a lot of games' releases whether good or bad; BW games have always had these kind of problems especially at launch, regardless of their quality)
Don't forget all of the fans who bought Andromeda and Anthem just to see Bioware drop support with zero follow through after literally promising publicly to put the time and money into fixing Anthem. Bioware destroyed their reputation with a lot of their diehard fanbase who buy all of their games, and I get that mistakes happen, but it's going to take work on their part to earn it back. There are consequences for releasing bad products back-to-back.
DA2 got shit on by the fans both before and after release, the women devs especially, it got really rough for some of them. Hopefully Bioware is more prepared this time and is able to protect their staff from online insanity and hate.
I think at that time it was a trio of games with questionable stuff (DA2, SWTOR, ME3) that led to people hating on Jennifer Hepler for her ideas (which are btw not actually great ideas given how her kickstarter game didn't work, but it certainly doesn't warrant hate, especially for stuff she didn't do) and for her weight / general dislike of games.
That whole hate campaign towards Jennifer Hepler was the start of all of this, IMO. After that, the floodgates were opened for dev hate against all game devs everywhere, and BW have been particular targets ever since.
Honestly I doubt that it matters because these aren’t the target audience for DA games anyways.
It was the same for any backlash that Baldurs Gate 3 got when it beat out Spider-Man for GOTY….. the people upset were spider man’s fans not BG3. And would never pick up a story-based RPG based on DND.
It’s the same for DA. If this was an IP like Battlefield or Modern Warfare I’m sure it would be worse because of the overlap between anti-woke people and the audience who enjoys FPS.
Marvel/Star Wars also get hit hard by it because the fanbase is multiple parts- including people who are socially conservative and those who are socially liberal.
Dragon Age will be fine if the game is good. If the game is bad- yeah BioWare is in trouble. Andromeda and Anthem were basically two strikes against their reputation and I don’t know if EA will let them survive 3.
Yeah on that one I totally agree with. That first trailer was…..yeah I showed it to my co-writer friend who also coincidentally is a fan of dragon age saying “what. The fuck. Is this?”
And this is coming from someone who generally likes BioWare.
Yea i was feeling a pit in my stomach and thinking oh no. Dragon age must succeed and between the name change and trailer they are either out if touch or overthinking in a big way
Well at the very least the reception of the gameplay trailer is more positive. One can only hope that the devs give a little more insight into it to try and give us hope again. Because at this point it’s an uphill battle.
Again. For like what? The third? Fourth time?
EA marketing team was responsible for that trailer, so I wasn't surprised. I wasn't worried back then, I waited for a gameplay reveal, and I wasn't disappointed
True, but it was still a team trying to market this, and they didn’t really stick the landing.
Granted the gameplay trailer did alleviate a lot of problems but time will tell if this game gets more positive feedback or if it will continue to be demonized for existing
The marketing does seem very... Bądź to say the least. As for visuals, I liked it a lot, even if my first reaction to Solas was "how did they manage to make him look even uglier" but now I just want to smooch his bald head after some egg smashing
I have never cared about the like/dislike ratio on the trailer for something because those are immensely easy to fix. Like wait for the reviews to come out at least before you start dooming. Edit: I mean that nicely, considering the game is at least a few months away, it won't be good for you to constantly worry. Also remember that Dragon Age has (unfortunately) been part of a shitty online culture war for over a decade, so I would look at anyone who is saying Bioware is dead (and not just saying they wish the combat was more like Origins) with a critical eye.
Yep, I think I'm really dooming. I liked the gameplay and the majority of my friends hated it so much, so I felt like I was the only one who was excited. And it's everywhere
People say not to worry about it, but this kind of negativity will definitely impact the new generation of players for sure.
Like, yeah... Most fans are going to buy the game regardless of how they feel about the trailer. But the studio can't survive on us alone, it needs new players too! And those anti-woke clowns who were never the game's target audience in the first place are driving away young people who may have never heard of this game before. It's ridiculous. The backlash is so over the top.
As a fan, I may not like what I've seen so far, but I'm still confident in the franchise and buying it day 1 for sure. I hope the game turns out great and makes a lot of money to satisfy EA just like how Inquisition did. Then people can shut the f up like how they did with BG3 or Loki TV series and go find another target to stroke their ego instead. 🙄
I have no idea why people use woke to degrade this game, I mean I'm replaying Origins right now, a game from 2009, so 15 years ago before all the drama internet has today, and diversity and sexuality has not changed at all, so complaining about that in a Dragon Age game is very much out of place, almost like the people complaining never even played the previous games. It's ridiculous.
The only thing that matters to me is that the story is done well, and with such a well written villain like Solas, I hope for the best.
If you like the game, just buy the game. Maybe give it likes wherever you can and spread some positivity. That's all you can do.
There are too many haters in gaming and unfortunately they are too loud.
I wouldn't worry too much - most people who arrived on the hate train weren't going to buy the game anyway, if they knew anything about previous DA games xD
I think DAV might lose some hardcore tactical combat fans who were still around after DAI but will certainly get some new fans as well. I certainly saw more positive coming out of gaming news outlets today than negative.
It doesn’t help that the popular unwashed rat Asmongold crapped all over this game without being constructive about it. I understand criticism but him and his goonies just hate to hate because “wokeness” ruins every game apparently.
I will say however, the trailer was an absolute mess. Whoever worked on that should never be allowed to release a dragon age trailer in the foreseeable future ever again.
I just hope we can all push away the hate and focus on the criticism and praises that the game needs to thrive.
It's been a bad week for anyone who likes to think positive. With all the trailer releases and what not it's been a shitfest of idiots screaming "woke" anytime they saw a women or a person of colour. I feel you because I am absolutely exhausted with this small group of people who are resistant to change or just meme-ing off of those that are serious. I saw a bunch of ppl claiming Flight Simulator was woke because they showed a female pilot??????
I wouldnt worry though, all that will talk to EA is the money. If the game sells incredibly well then it will be a success. I am still very very excited but this week has just been tiring reading so much vitriol and idiocy about almost every single game that was shown because they dare not to be about cis white dudes (hell, and some still were).
To be honest, I am also worried that devs will feel sad. Watching the gameplay video, I think they made a fantastic start, can’t wait to play the game as a long time fan.
Mobbing has been normalized and like many other games this game will be attacked and draw attention from folks who doesn’t give a shit about it but will help further their agenda, only good way to deal with all this bullshit is to ignore social media to an extend, such and fucked up world we live in where people are losing their shit cause of fictional character’s orientation, I’m all for companions being player sexual gives a lot of people options in their romance paths. This is a power fantasy game let’s us have our fun ffs.
If BioWare doesn’t want to close they need to make a good game. That’s it. BG3 was “woke”. It was a great game first though. Is DA:V a good game? Idk. The Gameplay didn’t look amazing. The old school DA:O fans rightfully feel like they’re being ignored by BioWare more with each installment of the franchise. Some of you are here for just the narrative/romance sim elements. Some of us are here for that *and* the tactical gameplay. The latter group is rightfully disappointed by what they saw in the trailer.
I’m a huge Mass Effect fan. I’m of the opinion that Mass effecting the combat system *could* work. But idk. It needs to be fun. Also importantly, *it needs to be fun to a large percentage of the current DA fanbase* since that is the primary market for this game. It’s the fourth installment of a narrative driven series with no multiplayer and several returning characters. If they can’t make the current player base happy then they’re probably sunk since this isn’t the type of game to bring in a ton of new players. *with that being said, it is DEFINITELY worrisome that the old school fans of the series are saying loudly they think this won’t be as fun*
It’s not just culture war bs even though that is surely part of it. If BioWare closes it’ll be because they failed to put out any good games since 2014. It’ll be because they didn’t understand who their primary audience is. It’ll be because they lost the plot of what made them great. And if that’s the case they’ll deserve it.
I’m extremely hopeful that it won’t happen and DA:V will be fun.
Also, take into consideration people like me who don't care to like or dislike most videos. Most of the time, I like a video it's just a quick way for me to save it to watch later, instead of adding it to the watch later list.
If people want to be miserable let them. Word of mouth will spread whether the game is actually good or not at release. It’s been so long and people were so into their expectations for a game that started as a bloody MMO that I knew a chunk of people could not be satisfied.
I mean no judgement for those who didn't like the gameplay for valid reasons bc preferences exist. But a lot of takes I've seen just are so far-fetched
Exactly. I can see that they’ve deviated from the original gameplay. I respect that sort of criticism. I respect people who simply don’t think it’s for them. I just hate the Fortnite/disney/marvel/bioware-is-doomed-because-its-not-my-cup-of-tea talk because it’s so dramatic
Honestly, same! And the gameplay didn't give me marvel vibe at all. For what it's worth, it made me even more excited when I saw Ghilan'nain. The girl is messed up. This is going to be pretty dark just because of her
Remember that there are a lot of people who don't play these games at all, just there to spread their message of hate.
Don't worry, mate. And any publicity is good publicity.
None of it will matter if sales perform. Like people forget one of the most disliked trailers in YouTube history was a Call of Duty game - it still sold like hot cakes. People on the Internet just yell really loud but if the people who like what they're seeing go and buy it, the franchise and bioware will be fine. I genuinely don't think the "ugh it's woke" crowd are gonna impact how well the game performs - they're complaining in droves rn about the acolyte but viewership figures are some of the highest disney+ has ever had, so the vocal minority isn't really doing what they think they are. The issue I could more see is when they finally give us a release date. October is looking pretty full at the moment so bad time to release because it splits people's priorities, and November has a couple big releases already set, but i think this will be the most likely month if they do manage to stick to a 2024 release. So just have to hope no other really big franchises set up a November release because then it could be a really competitive month for them.
Reminds me of that screenshot of the boycott MW2 steam group where everyone was playing MW2. Like the internet is kinda famous at being terrible with the vote with your wallet.
I liked it.
That matters to me.
I'm likely going to buy it.
That matters to me.
If someone didn't like something then cool, that's for them to decide. It doesn't impact me whatsoever.
I'm mostly curious to know how management reacts to this, and how the success or marketing is measured overall? It can't be solely on YouTube likes/dislikes. Hmm...
Nothing in the trailer screamed 'woke' to me.
Only red flag was art style being a bit off and I really disliked the character introductions being like smash bros.
Gameplay trailer fixed that for me.
I'm sure it'll be a great game, but remember.
No pre orders.
To be honest, I think it’s the initial trailer and the sudden name change that hurt the sentiment towards the game. Initially I was mad at the gameplay trailer too, but I have warmed up to it now and I am really excited to play the game ☺️. I think most others will come around too if the game is good when it releases.
Try instead and look at the downvotes as a symptom of how much people love this franchise and how they don’t want BioWare to mess it up, like they messed up ME with Andromeda
EA has Sims. How broken is that piece of garbage and they still don't care because people buy it. People will still buy it, maybe on a sale but they will.
EA won't care if it sells well.
If is the operative word.
But honestly so far I'm not even sure the game is for someone like me at all. First the awful trailer, then full action rog gameplay...
I may need to pass on it and it'd be a first for a DA game for me (even if DA:I already made me pass on all its DLC save Trespasser).
Eh, most of the valid concerns have been drowned out by the anti-woke racists. I'm more worried about that, as it means Bioware might just choose to ignore all criticism.
I feel like this is the consequences of a bad first impression. Like that trailer was so off key that it inserted the idea "This isn't Dragon Age" in people's heads. The gameplay calmed some people down, but I don't think everyone was impressed with the combat and the limitations of it. So once you have the idea of this doesn't feel like Dragon Age, and then you see combat that looks a lot like other combat from other action games, you're going to get people still complaining. The trailer was obviously a mistake, but I think the gameplay demo was also a mistake to not show us something from deeper into the game where they could really show off the abilities, the wheel, how it would feel to give commands to companions, how technical it could be, etc. So right now it does feel a bit like they keep making problems for themselves with how they're rolling this out. Plus the fact that once the trailer was released, MANY people were coping that the art style was only for the trailer and then we found that not to be true. I know a lot of fans have turned around on it and like it now, but there's still going to be a lot of people that bump against that style. It's a bit odd how much this is reminding me of DA2 with a very polarizing art style and combat choice. And I just didn't think Bioware would try that again because of how it was received.
The only number that matters is the number of sales, not YouTube dislikes that you need to (AFAIK) download add-on to view.
Insane people who demand every character in every piece of media either be their exact demographic or a sex doll deserve the response you would give to a 7th cousin who showed up to your house naked doing cartwheels and started using the yard as a toilet
Remember: Every publicity is good publicity. You see 82k dislikes, I see 82k people showing interest in the game! Should it turn out to be good or at least successful, it will be a triumphant return to former greatness for Bioware. People love a good comeback story.
Angry internet right wing trolls so far are unsuccesfull in sacking any businesses - I wouldn't worry about it too much.
I'm concerned about actual problems of the game - namely, the gameplay which is too Mass Effect.
Wokenism dislikes weren't buying it anyway, what may be worrying is if the players are let down on realease (be it that the story is poorly-made or the game has Big Bugs making it un playable).
These are just one of the reasons why the dislikes are hidden in YouTube. There's the mob mentality, and I kid you not I came across comments who said along the lines of, "haven't played DAO, DA2, and DAI, but the gameplay didnt get me hooked." There are also some channels rallying their viewers to dislike the DAV marketing stuff. Better to pay attention at constructive feedback or appreciation fortunately found in this subreddit. The other half of Twitter are fans already simping for the companions (breath of fresh air amidst negativity tbh). Bioware cares def. Just saw Mike Gamble tweet about Marauder Shields and improvement from ME:Andromeda's facial animations. Bioware even made a secret Community Council to consult with, in terms of improving their story and game as a whole.
Everything boils down to players actually receiving the game and playing it. Can't wait to hear more of Solas' voice.
Edit: In restrospect, YouTube doesn't pay for the dislikes lol. It's the views, so at least Bioware getting some cash out of it to fund their upcoming games.
Look.
Some people don't like the game. That's fine. If it's just a bunch of the anti-woke crowd, it doesn't meant anything. They didn't buy the previous games and they sure wont buy this one. No loss.
There's a lot of older fans like me who aren't sold on the new style, sure. but I'll probably pick it up on sale eventually, or play it through gamepass. Most of us probably will.
If Bioware didn't get shuttered after the flop that was anthem, they'll survive an average performing Dragon Age. So relax.
While I don’t think this game will be anywhere near as good as an rpg as BG3, I do find it funny how a lot of the more extreme criticisms like “the dialogue is too cringy”, “they removed all the dark fantasy elements”, and “they made the game too trend chasing and casual” were the exact same shit I saw diehard BG1/2 and DAO fanboys say about BG3 all the way up until it’s launch.
None of it matters, only thing that matters is sales. and what people don't get and have never gotten is that how a game is perceived does not necessarily translate to sales. Current estimates for Bioware have them making between 66 million in 2023. Given triple AAA games budgets if Vielguard cost $250 million to make it (which is high side of what triple A games cost putting it in the same realm as GTA 5 Last of us 2 or Cyberpunk 2077) selling 5 million units would still turn a profit
Anthem sold 5 million units
Andromeda Sold 5 million units
the first dragon age? 3 million unites
DAI between 6-8 million units
Mass Effect? 3 million units.
Mass effect 2? 5 million units
Sure Anthem was a failure only because they expected to sell 6 million units and make a shit ton on micro transactions, didn't pan out. Andromeda? still made more money than the original mass effect. Bioware is in business because they are profitable maybe not as profitable as EA wants but they are not operating at a loss. and as far as money goes still one of the industry biggest hitters. people forget that maybe on a good year there are a handful of games that sell in the millions. what hurts a company is when it costs a ton to make and sells like shit, think psychonaughts or more importantly when a bunch of projects straight fail, you wont here about these so much but for instance Scalebound almost took out platinum.
I don’t know why some people are hiding their head in the send pretending the only people hating are the inrepresentative “anti-woke” brigade.
There are average gamers that don’t find the gameplay and art style appealing:
- going down to two companions sucks
- not being able to control them like before sucks
- having only 3 abilities sucks
- having demons look like neon disco armor instead of monsters sucks
- the skin textures (besides Harding) are a bit washed out and plastic feeling.
- the intro felt very scifi and andromeda like
I and a bunch of people I know couldn’t give a rats ass about the whole culture war nonsense.
It’s just disappointing that the game is being progressively simplified and softified. And it will have an impact on sales.
It might still be pretty successful, but not as successful as it could have been.
There weren't many abilities in DAI, but I switched between party members and thanks to this the gameplay was not particularly boring. But now I can't even do this :(
For real people are being disingenuous when defending the game. Most people don't care about "wokeness" or whatever. The main complains are the ones you listed.
trying to discredit criticism as being bigoted won't help anyone.
EA will only care about the $$$. They don’t give a shit about some dislikes lol.
We’ll have to see what sales #s are like for the first month or two to see if we should be worried or not
It is concerning because all this backlash may affect the commercial success of the game... and that will influence the future of Bioware.
I didn't really enjoy what I've seen, so I probably won't buy it day one. Will take my time first before deciding. But I hope it has a great critical response so we can have more Dragon Age in the future.
It might sell more than the previous one.... People are just following the flow like sheeps, while other will buy it.
Seriously, this game looks nothing like fortnight or is more woke than previous épisode
I'm not a fan of less tactics, 3 character team, 3 skills by characters (biggest issue) but all and all it looks fun . While dai was quickly boring with its semi open World
Usually the "anti-woke" crowd are in the minority as seen clearly by BG3. Aslong as the game is good the game will sell well which is what matters to EA, not the dislikes on the youtube channel.
I think it looks worse than it is by now. I understood the backlash of this dumb trailer and I hated it too, but gameplay and story so far looks great.
In the end, only sales will count, as always. So tell all your friends and hopefully DAV will have a great start nonetheless. Who knows, in the end, it could have been additional advertisement.
However, I think the trailer did a damage that will never vanish fully, just like with Battlefield.
Those likes/dislikes are not a good metric for actual sales. EA also just hired a former PlayStation exec to a high level position to specifically focus on RPGs. I'm not worried about it. There's really no point in worrying right now.
To be fair, my initial reaction to the reveal trailer was "Is this a Fortnite expansion?" But I'm surprised with the hate on the gameplay reveal, seemed fine to me tbh
It’s YouTube. The place is often a cesspool. We’ll only really have an idea of how well the game will do after jt comes out, and even then we won’t know for sure e
I wouldn't worry, the core of the dragon age community knows dragon age was diverse from the start.
They tried this with Baldurs Gate 3 and even Dungeons and Dragons itself, both very successful.
At the end of the day, only money talks and people will buy the game if they want to play it, regardless of any backlash. Another example that proves that point, the Hogwarts game.
The extension that 'shows' dislikes uses the dislike to like ratios of people who've got the extension installed for vague estimation. There's no reason to believe that (even if the calculations are reasonable, which I don't personally think they are) that this group is representative of general audiences and that the dislike numbers are accurate.
Negativity is easy and sells, especially when we haven't actually seen the final game for any analysis. A dislike in particular requires basically no sunk cost for the disliker. The numbers are inflated compared to how many people actually care.
Why would you care? honestly. I liked the gameplay, and will buy it. I couldn't care less about if other people enjoy or not. And No, Bioware isn't closing, they have make ME4 anyway.
They're EA not an indie company people will buy the game if it's good they don't need to worry about gameplay reveal getting hate swarmed by far right YouTube
Don't worry g
take into consideration the vocal minority of people hitting the dislike button just to be trolls, are hateful homophobes, and far right bigots. I would then say the like to dislike ratio would be a bit more balanced.
If it's consoling in any way, YouTube comments and dislikes say very little about the people that will see the game and be interested in it. Internet discourse only reaches so far into real life, and something being declared "woke" won't break its chances of being successful.
Bg3 not only had a great product, but it had a great fandom that shared edits, funny moments and whatnot on TikTok, twitter, Pinterest etc. The fandom is already engaging with what we have now, I've been talking about the game with people I know. It'll be alright, the buzz about it will help with making it more popular
I wouldn't stress about it. Its becoming increasingly apparent that following internet reactions to upcoming media is like the older generations watching fox news. Its just there for angry people to fuel their anger, and for everyone else if you watch it too closely you're just stressing yourself out and putting yourself in an unhealthy mindstate for no reason.
Lets see what happens on release. If a game is good then the internet hive mind that roams from new thing to new thing can't bring it down. Its tried to and failed many times on other games.
Ultimately it comes down to if the game is good or not. If the game is genuinely great it will do well. If it's not, it won't.
After not releasing a well-received title for over a decade, firing almost all of the staff who worked on the original games and the troubled development Veilguard went through I don't think Bioware vanishing would be an unreasonable outcome, honestly.
I hope Veilguard is a success and heralds a new generation of Bioware games with a fresh perspective, but it really could go either way at this point.
Youtube dislikes literally don't matter. A lot of those are bots and a lot of them are idiots complaining about "woke". What matters most is you like it.
With starfield, sooo many people reviewbombed that game to be edgy brigading cringelords, but numbers wise it's been one of their most successful games ever. I wouldn't pay the dislikes on youtube any mind.
Dragon age now has become like Final Fantasy. The franchise is changing SO MUCH with each entry, that the fanbase is always alienated.
But at the end of the day, they did good games. You can like some more or less, and some have aspects that are undeniably unpolished or that were a mechanic that did not work as good as they wanted, but the overall game is good, and I recommend playing all 3 of them.
I love DAO, it was the better one for me. I also loved DAI, although there are many things that irritated me. And I enjoyed a lot DA2.
Now, watching DA4 gameplay I can see I will not like it so much. And I comment, I place my concerns, I say “this is not my Dragon Age”. But as everyone said, this is feedback from someone that will most likely buy the game. It’s still engagement.
So do not worry for the dislikes. Worry if there were no likes/dislikes altogether.
I haven't seen anyone complain about the game being woke, but I'm also not on twitter or wherever that kind of thing comes up.
The reveal trailer was awful, and the gameplay reveal doesn't look great either. The enemies barely fight back in the gameplay reveal, there seems to be quick dodges, there is no swapping to other companions, and what looks to be a very limited number of abilities.
When you take an IP and try to change it sometimes its a good thing, and sometimes its a disaster. If the game is bad it shouldn't sell, amd if EA's Bioware doesn't perform then let it die. It isn't the same compny anymore anyway, and then maybe the Devs who make worthwhile things can move on to make the next Larian or CD Project Red
The like to dislike ratio won’t matter if the game sells well. I do share some of your concerns, but I think it helps to keep in mind that sales are what matters, not social media buzz.
I think fan base of Dragon Age was too fractured from the very beginning, even without conservative hate. I would like to see more in the style of Origins, but Veilguard isn't it, so it's natural that I would dislike it.
But I wouldn't worry about EA before they can analyse sales. For what it worth, I think current outrage is just brining more attention to the game.
I guarantee it will not be like this on launch. The anti-woke crowd are as much of a minority as the super woke crowd. Most people who play these games are normies who don’t gaf either way. Unless the game is Andromeda or Anthem 2.0 and it gets really terrible word of mouth then I wouldn’t sweat it. I have a feeling the game is going to be good (I’m personally getting mass effect 2 vibes from it) and a lot of these people who are disliking the videos are still gonna buy it lmao.
Easy solution: don't delve this deep into games that haven't been released yet, because literally every word written about them is subjective opinion based on a version of the game that isn't even finished. Am I the only one who remembers life before we were all \*extremely fucking online\*? A game would come out, and then I'd hear it was good from people who actually played it, and then I would play it. No army of 8,000 online critics delivering half-assed clickbait overreactions. If you let the opinions of people who rely on clicks and views for their livelihood to affect \*your\* opinions on a game, especially before it's even released, you are going to have a bad time whether the game is actually good or not.
I think that video game developers understand that someone's going to complain about everything. Fan bases are terrible. Especially when they haven't played a game yet.
I think that anyone who does this professionally understands that there's a lot of fan anxiety when details of new games come out, solely on the basis of the fact that it doesn't *look* familiar. When things look unfamiliar fans get scared. But you can't help that a new game looks different, because it's a new game. Literally be no way that a game made 14 years later would look and play the same as the previous game 😆
Not to mention, every single dragon age game has played differently than the one before it, and the grand majority of the fans once playing all of those games, don't have any really serious complaints. Even in the case of da2.... Da2 has many flaws, but it's still many fans favorite game in the franchise.
I wouldn't be too worried about hurting the developer's feelings, as I'm sure that they know that when fans are anxious about a new game they can be bitches.
Think that once the game gets actually played by people the numbers are going to shift.
What I don't understand is what did these people see in the trailer or in the game play footage that was so "Woke" it offended them? Was the art style too gay for them?
What I find alarming is the growing number of young men in our society who have decided to choose the voices of hate to follow, who are just increasingly becoming more hateful, less empathetic and more nihilistic with every passing year. These people who hide behind being anti woke in reality are just a bunch of hateful, miserable assholes who are too cowardly to admit they hate women, minorities and gays openly.
But really, I can usually see the pattern when these cretins and their brethren come out with their laughable crusade against "Woke", With how upset Dragon Age has made them, you'd have me believing that they had Ru Paul and the Seven Drag Queens on a quest to make sure Solas The Drag Goddess is able to remake the world into a massive Drag Show.
It’s a self-made crisis by BioWare when they decided to start with sudden name change and awful reveal trailer. Expectations were already low but somehow they manage to set a starting point even lower.
It’s an uphill battle for them now. Gameplay reveal was a step in the right direction. Whether they’ll be able to make enough profit to please EA lords only time will tell. Many people will wait for sale rather buying on release.
Honestly, Bioware is just a name right now. The people who made all the great Bioware games in the past are not there anymore. They will just make typical EA games from now on.
And no, I don't think that EA cares about the backlash. Or about anything gamers may want, wish or think.
I thought we could not see dislikes on YouTube. (I can't see them). That there was a browser extension that claimed to show them, but it was just guessing.
I’ve been on the internet long enough to know that if you have a minority main character you’ll be downvoted into oblivion by people who do things like this like it’s their job. I wonder what the likes to dislikes on the AC shadows gameplay is.
These people are ghouls. Now reading like feedback on social media has some value but things like RT audience score and YouTube dislikes is just checking to see how many ghouls went online today
Can you give an estimate on what the reception actually looks like? All I’ve seen is a three way tug with one side liking it, another hating it, and another just wanting to wait and see.
I’m not trying to sow any doubt here, and im genuinely wanting to know where the more positive feedback is coming from because from what I’ve seen on YouTube and here, it’s seems way more mixed
Honestly I’ve seen a bit more positive feedback and it seems more on equal footing but I’m probably just being too hopeful that people actually give it a chance.
I know that it’s not going to be for everyone but the negativity seems to be really rabid and just…..idk it just hurts to see how much it seems people want this to fail instead of wanting to see BioWare make a genuine effort to make a comeback.
Yes, it does hurt. It's the same for me. I was so happy for them, like SO MUCH, and I was so proud of them but then this happened
Where have you seen this positive feedback? I need this place bc I'm really so sad because of all the negativity
I’ve seen some comments on the livestream comment section here and there. And on this subreddit as well.
That was what was giving me hope, and I’m just hoping that it will make a turnaround
I’m not blind to biowares flaws.
Andromeda was…..okay I thought it was okay ish when I played it, but it wasn’t great either.
Anthem…..yeah i never played it and never planned to because I could tell where THAT was going.
The layoffs and the development hell didn’t help.
And the trailer we got on Sunday? Hoooo boy yeah I was not really a fan of it.
But more often than not. BioWare managed to keep chugging and marching forward despite all the vitriol and criticisms, and would find their way back. That is something I can respect.
But I guess we’re a minority in that we WANT them to get better and succeed again.
I have a bot to track down dislikes, I've been using it for years, so it's hard for me to ignore that
I've seen so much negativity for gameplay as well, to be honest :(
Yea but its more of an estimate based on how many people didn't click "like" on the video. Its not an accurate way to measure anything.
Also the people who complain about everythint are usually the loudest. The general take I hear is "pretty ok"
This is silly. Fans should be more careful about their criticism in general but nobody needs to hold in their disappointment because of some internet assholes brigading everything. If you mute 'woke' you'll never see like 90% of it and won't miss anything because nobody uses it except for internet assholes.
Even bad press is good press when it comes to game marketing. Now if we get to release and people who've played are posting reasonable negative reviews that might skew things. Having said that both da2 and dai both copped flack and still.. here we are
Fuck the dislikes. More than half of them are worthless because they come from people who made up their minds years ago or people who don't even know what Dragon Age is.
This. There's so many people backing up their complaints with "this isn't Dragon Age". So you're the one that's deciding what is Dragon Age now? Because you played one game 15 years ago? Okay bud, great point.
i could go the rest of my life without hearing the word woke again
They'll just invent another one in a few years or even less, don't worry. Before woke it was political correctness, which nowadays mostly "can't joke about anything anymore" comedians use, and there was more before pc until we get to the original "cultural bolshevism" about destroying the "values of the West". It's all the same dumb narrative getting spun with different keywords.
yep "woke" "dei" "critical race theory" "diversity hire" all the exact same thing re-buzzworded ad nauseam for decades so the same people can complain about the exact same imaginary problem forever
Also SJW. Basically it's a "safe" way for them to say racist things.
The important thing to remember is this... BG3 was hugely successful, same with TLOU2 and Horizon: Forbidden West. All supposedly 'woke'. Alan Wake 2 and Spiderman 2, both very well received, also apparently 'woke'. These guys are the epitome of a vocal minority. They dogpile onto anything that goes against their ill-defined opinions, even games they clearly have no interest in, and ultimately... they don't actually really matter. The gaming industry has moved on, and society has moved on, from what they want. They're just a bunch of sad, social-regressives shouting into the void about how everything sucks, when everyone else is actually just enjoying these great games
I agree. Normies aren't terminally online, listening to and watching video essays about why "woke ideology is ruining gaming". They're just going to go out and buy the game that everyone else is playing or that their friends tell them is good. Despite all the negative comparisons the first trailer had to Fortnite and Valorant, the last time I checked, those games were very popular. So making that comparison is more an admission of contempt than any actual critique of the game itself. I know many, many people for whom BG3 was their first experience in anything related to D&D. That game did not become the success that it was because it catered to the whims of a bunch of parasocial online content mills. If the game succeeds, it will be because reviewers and players like it, and if it fails, it will be because people did not enjoy it.
Am not entirely sure I can call them a vocal minority if people like Elon musk is openly saying something about it.
He’s one of the richest people on the planet. Unfortunately when you have that much money nothing can stop you from being an unhinged lunatic. Doesn’t make his opinions the majority or any more valid. Just means his money lets him screech the loudest
They probably liked BG3, because it spoke to them so much, they didn't realize they were being indoctrinated. :D
It's the most pathetic thing that's come about in a while. ESPECIALLY when it comes to Dragon Age. The franchise has always been very progressive so I don't see why people are suddenly caring now. i saw a lot of backlash for creating black elves too and it going woke because of that when there was literally no saying that elves were only white in the first place, not to mention in past games darker elves have been seen.
It's almost unbelievable now that this word was once used by progressive people with a positive connotation...
Everything black people make and do gets stolen and misunderstood eventually.
It's funny how words that mean "Enlightened" means bad. Or how "Liberal" means bad, when it really means "free minded", and at the same time these people say how they love freedom? 😄 Just shows how little people think when they invent these words.
The word "woke" is very important. You can use it to immediately stop listening to any person who uses it and ignore them for the rest of your life.
Me too, it really makes me sick now just because of how much it's used
Agreed. Things are getting out of hand. Inclusion and diversity should just be considered normal at this point in our evolution. Alas…
Dude. No one takes internet likes/dislikes seriously. Half the people who smashed that dislike button will buy it day one.
Also quite some big portions of the dislikes never intend to buy it anyway.
Big portion probably didn't even watch, just disliked on principle because they hate bioware
Yeah, if you look at the proportions of likes/dislikes to the amount of views on the video it is pretty obvious. Most videos get similar amounts of likes(a bit more to be fair) to this trailer, just look at Elden Ring [trailer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8k8R0Q2ubY&t=1s), but without the dislikes. This meant almost the double amount of people left an impression to this trailer, that is usually a sign that it's not entirely genuine(even if it is not a targeted campaign).
You beat me to it. Sure, it might be a sign of how the general discourse is going to go but internet discourse (or even the diehard fanbase for that matter) has little if any impact on how the sales are going to go or how the corporate side of EA is going to handle EA going forward.
I hope so! But I saw a lot of backlash on twitter and from gamers alike. The team encounters so much hate as well :( I hate it
The problem is you looked at Twitter and YouTube comments. Those are notoriously heavily weighed in a… particular direction…
It might be. I've never hyped for other games, so I might've just overreacted a little. Or not a little. If you don't mind me asking, what are the best communities I can look for? Except for this Reddit, of course
You can join the Bioware discord. So far everything has been positive, but not without valid criticism. I had a fun time there talking about the game while watching the gameplay. Also keep in mind both Twitter and YouTube are bot cesspools.
Yes, the bots! Some of the comments may not even be real people. It really sucks to see something I love get needlessly shat on, but yeah, as other folks said, best option I've found is to just stick to here and the Discord.
tumblr is definitely a lot more positive abt it than any other platform i've seen, including this subreddit.
Tumblr is a very specific place imo but I like it. I'll just go there then lol
Tumblr is having a grand old time speculating about the characters, but Tumblr is far more interested in character and plot than it is gameplay.
Other communities, I’m not so sure… threads has been a bit more upbeat on the dragon age content imo? That and reddit. And tbh if reddit is feeling pretty good is usually good because most people I know will consult reddit for opinions on games over other places 🤷♂️ It is tricky when you’re hyped for something and people hate on it for invalid reasons too. Edit: invalid reasons do not include criticisms involving personal taste. Eg, not being a massive fan of the art style.
By invalid reasons I mean only anti-wokism only. Other ones are interesting to read, unless they're extremely toxic but I haven't seen much of these with valid points
I wouldn’t worry Pokémon always deals with shit like this but still makes millions every time
LMAO OKAY YOU MADE ME FEEL BETTER thank you
Literally, if you want a great example of an established game’s fan base throwing tantrums, Pokemon is the best example
Also just to add to your point, gamefreak makes *yearly* everything disney got with the entire MCU.
I’m easy to please but I love my Pokemon games. I am convinced that every game with a big fanbase will be full of complaints no matter how well done the game is
Pokemon is a fantastic example because, like Dragon Age, they have a loud section of people who refuse to accept that anything after the first generation (Origins) is worth playing.
Also: EA games
Twitter is a haven for bigots
ok that's fair jkjkjk
Twitter is even worse than YouTube likes/dislikes. Everything is too woke for a vocal minority these days so I'd just ignore it. Against my better judgement, there's a few games that warrant a preorder from me personally, and Dragon Age Veilguard will be one of them. Can't wait to play it. BioWare has my whole heart with every Dragon Age game they've released so far.
I would suggest not to take into heart what the internet has to say. It just pulls out your excitement from the game.
Twitter. Really.
Well EA is also called the studio killer, so I think its actually fair to worry about the game. If the same amount of hate continues on release it might not end good for Bioware in the long run
EA has owned Bioware since 2007. While part of EA, Bioware released every Dragon Age game, Mass Effect 2 and 3, and SWTOR.
Inquisition received a lot of hate before and after release, and was one of the two BioWare open world "failures" that led into Anthem and the days where we wondered if BioWare was done for good. It also won Game Of The Year.
You're looking at it the wrong way, it not likes/dislikes it's all engagement. In any event EA will care about money and nothing else so I wouldn't worry too much.
They care about money, true, and that's why I'm afraid that DA4 might not pay off. That worries me the most, and judging by reaction, there's a high possibility of it
There’s also reviews and more to still come out too. Many (almost all) articles that have come out from reporters from the demo are overwhelmingly positive. If the game keeps up the quality, combat engaging, performance good, visually stunning, captivating narrative etc… the game could review really well and that will do heaps for it. Plus review bombs of games that are anti woke etc usually just bring more publicity and the people that don’t care about that will realise how good the game is. BG3 for GOtY and had heaps of backlash on things like Twitter…
Honestly I doubt it. Dragon Age is a pretty established series and while BioWare has certainly had some serious flops recently I think so long as the game itself is good we have nothing to worry about. Even the people crying about the game are probably going to buy it just so they have more things to complain/troll about. But hey, we should always be prepared for everything. Who knows what EA is thinking.
tbh if Anthem couldn't kill Bioware I don't think DA4 underperforming will
Hah. That’s pretty true. That game feels like a fever dream to me at this point.
It's *because* of Anthem (and Andromeda) that DA4 failing will kill bioware. And honestly I'm happy with that, *if* DA4 isn't good, I don't have much faith in bioware anymore either, and would be fine with DA4 just putting bioware out of its misery.
Things looked pretty bleak after Anthem and Andromeda, but I would argue the Mass Effect Legendary Edition is the main reason we're still getting DA4. We were hanging on threads of hope for a long long time with DA4, getting drip fed promises that yes, it was still coming, despite all evidence to the contrary. Then the Legendary Edition came out and was an all round success, showing EA and BioWare that their games are popular and can make good money in the modern gaming scene. Add to this the success of major single player story focused games over the past few years, such as the newer GoW games, Elden Ring, BotW and most recently BG3, and I think BioWare is being looked upon quite favourably atm. DA4 doesn't need to be GOTY, it just needs to not flop as hard as Anthem and Andromeda. And even if it does, I think it unlikely that they'll cancel production on Mass Effect 5 after the success of the Legendary Edition. But if both DA4 and ME5 sell poorly and get critically panned, then you may be right and we'll be witnessing the last breaths of BioWare. I don't think that's likely though.
I think ME5 would be the final straw in that case, as it's already in development. If Veilguard fails, I think it'll mean corporate-mandated changes for ME5, whether for better or worse. Probably worse, since they'll try to overcorrect and turn it into a GAAS or something.
I think ME5 would be cancelled if DA4 failed hard enough. Remember that the last ME game *also* was a failure. Three colossal failures in a row and no successes over ten years would be a disaster of epic proportions.
if i remember, Andromeda was actually a financial sucess after all, wasn't it?
Yep, these people talking about it being a failure are talking out of their arses. It was heavily criticised by the exact same people criticising Veilguard right now (including threats to devs), and whilst Andromeda had its issues, they were fixed up and the game sold great on Steam. Anthem was the genuine flop.
Andromeda straight up killed Mass Effect for a few years, so DA4 flopping could absolutely mean the end for Bioware.
Very angry vocal minority who bizarrely hate the thought of treating all humans equally and compassionately. They can hit that dislike button all they want. If the game previews and reviews well, Bioware will be absolutely fine with sales. Well reviewed fantasy RPGs tend to sell very well =)
I feel like everyone hated on Inquisition at release, and yet it was still the best-selling Dragon Age game in the series. So I wouldn't worry about it too much.
(Looks through my mind portfolio regarding DAI hate at release) Holy smokes I remember that one…..that was a huge yikes back then. And that was AFTER the Mass effect 3 fiasco
DAI hate really was that bad? I wasn't a fan back then because I played DA2 as a child, thinking that I could turn into a dragon and I was disappointed. I had a personal vendetta against dragon age for crushing my little child heart lol
Lmao that is really cute. But frankly the hate back then was…..pretty bad from what I remember. I could be mistaken and remembering things wrong but it wasn’t exactly a good time for any of us actually looking forward to the game. However the hate that this game is receiving is so much worse
No you’re right. DA:I was very much hated by a percentage of the fanbase for “dumbing things down” and not going back to Origins and this was after the whole thing with ME3. It was also well received critically by the press and then things calmed down and most people came around to it though many still didn’t like it. I personally enjoyed it from the beginning but I’ve also enjoyed the whole franchise, some more than others.
BioWare was basically at the receiving end of the dawn of internet hysteria and drama, I hope they got used to it
I remember the hate being much louder for da2 myself. There was for sure cynicism surrounding inquisition, but at least on launch people were more positive about it. I’m rather happy people these days tend to look back on da2 more fondly at least. I played it in high school after origins and I always felt like my taste was “wrong” since (though critics liked it well enough) fans disliking it was such an overwhelming sentiment. Suppose in that sense, cynicism surrounding Veilguard could be seen in different light. We’ve been here before, everyone’s always cynical before a new dragon age. Whether it saves Bioware or not, I’m pretty optimistic this one is going to be a good time for dragon age fans who hadn’t already jumped ship.
Morrigan's shape shifting after sippin the Well of Sorrows juice must have felt personal lol
I have people defending Inquisition's flaws in order to shit on DAV. Like really, you're going to be nostalgic about the game ya'll hated on just to hate. Crazy. Let's not forget that there are these kinds of people every Bioware cycle.
LOL I remember they did the same with DA2. I know it's a downer, OP, but this is also absolutely nothing new for Dragon Age.
Even before the release da:i received similar hate as datv now. Now there’s weirdos complaining that the Rook in the gameplay trailer is black, back when da:i gameplay was first revealed the same weirdos complained that the inky in the video was a female qunari. Apparently that meant that BioWare hates men.
There's still those mad about femshep being put on the cover of 3. Which is a lot more reasonable than being mad that the custom character isn't your very spesific skin color. And of course poor Davrin - is joining the Jacob, Viv and Wyll club of people not wanting black people in their fantasy games.
To me the claims that the game would be "about gays" or "forced diversity" makes so little sense at this point. We know nothing about the characters (save for the ones that have appeared in Tevinter Nights or the comics), and yet these people claim their hate isn't based on the characters' race or sexuality, but on... something? when absolutely nothing in either of the reveal trailers has even referenced the characters' sexualities, race, or gender. At this point they just are there and happen to look a certain way.
So true. I have some criticisms of DAI but at the end of the day I've got over 1000 hours in the game and I love it to pieces. If DA4 is as good as DAI ill be happy.
Wouldn’t worry about it. This game was always going to face an uphill battle when it comes to initial reception. Whether it’s the part of the fanbase that only likes Origins, or the anti woke weirdos who are pretending they wouldn’t cry about the old games if they came out now. Plus BioWare’s reputation hasn’t been the best lately. BUT I’ve seen a lot more positive reception to the game after the gameplay reveal on twitter, before it was mostly negative but now it seems pretty split. It’s important to remember that the amount of people who engage in discourse about games in any real way are a huge minority. If the game is good and reviews well it should be fine. Edit: Reread this comment and me saying “people who only like origins” was way too reductive. Should’ve worded it better, I mostly meant people who are unhappy with the direction of the combat going even further away from DAO (and the other games as well) which is a valid complaint.
It's a combination of several factors, I think. Reasonable gripes about gameplay + People daydreaming and then disappointed about a return to Origins-style combat + People scared off by the initial trailer + Anti-woke crowd + Hate bandwagoners + Bioware having lost their reputation + All the concerning news about the troubled development of the game in the past decade It was destined to be an uphill battle. I like most of what I've seen to date and my very cautiously optimistic view of the game seems to have been rewarded so far. Of course I'll have to have the game in my hands to make a better judgment, and a lot of things can happen at release (I'm kinda worried about bugs\\performance issues at launch, which is something that concerns a lot of games' releases whether good or bad; BW games have always had these kind of problems especially at launch, regardless of their quality)
Don't forget all of the fans who bought Andromeda and Anthem just to see Bioware drop support with zero follow through after literally promising publicly to put the time and money into fixing Anthem. Bioware destroyed their reputation with a lot of their diehard fanbase who buy all of their games, and I get that mistakes happen, but it's going to take work on their part to earn it back. There are consequences for releasing bad products back-to-back.
Yep! They'll have to work hard to regain their rep, I pray that Veilguard is the first stepping stone in the process
DA2 got shit on by the fans both before and after release, the women devs especially, it got really rough for some of them. Hopefully Bioware is more prepared this time and is able to protect their staff from online insanity and hate.
I think at that time it was a trio of games with questionable stuff (DA2, SWTOR, ME3) that led to people hating on Jennifer Hepler for her ideas (which are btw not actually great ideas given how her kickstarter game didn't work, but it certainly doesn't warrant hate, especially for stuff she didn't do) and for her weight / general dislike of games.
That whole hate campaign towards Jennifer Hepler was the start of all of this, IMO. After that, the floodgates were opened for dev hate against all game devs everywhere, and BW have been particular targets ever since.
You made the most obvious mistake on the internet. *Never read the youtube comments!*
Honestly I doubt that it matters because these aren’t the target audience for DA games anyways. It was the same for any backlash that Baldurs Gate 3 got when it beat out Spider-Man for GOTY….. the people upset were spider man’s fans not BG3. And would never pick up a story-based RPG based on DND. It’s the same for DA. If this was an IP like Battlefield or Modern Warfare I’m sure it would be worse because of the overlap between anti-woke people and the audience who enjoys FPS. Marvel/Star Wars also get hit hard by it because the fanbase is multiple parts- including people who are socially conservative and those who are socially liberal. Dragon Age will be fine if the game is good. If the game is bad- yeah BioWare is in trouble. Andromeda and Anthem were basically two strikes against their reputation and I don’t know if EA will let them survive 3.
I hope the game succeeds because i love the games but the marketing and creative choices aren’t helping.
Yeah on that one I totally agree with. That first trailer was…..yeah I showed it to my co-writer friend who also coincidentally is a fan of dragon age saying “what. The fuck. Is this?” And this is coming from someone who generally likes BioWare.
Yea i was feeling a pit in my stomach and thinking oh no. Dragon age must succeed and between the name change and trailer they are either out if touch or overthinking in a big way
Well at the very least the reception of the gameplay trailer is more positive. One can only hope that the devs give a little more insight into it to try and give us hope again. Because at this point it’s an uphill battle. Again. For like what? The third? Fourth time?
EA marketing team was responsible for that trailer, so I wasn't surprised. I wasn't worried back then, I waited for a gameplay reveal, and I wasn't disappointed
True, but it was still a team trying to market this, and they didn’t really stick the landing. Granted the gameplay trailer did alleviate a lot of problems but time will tell if this game gets more positive feedback or if it will continue to be demonized for existing
>EA marketing team was responsible for that trailer Source? Bioware have their own marketing team so I doubt that.
The marketing does seem very... Bądź to say the least. As for visuals, I liked it a lot, even if my first reaction to Solas was "how did they manage to make him look even uglier" but now I just want to smooch his bald head after some egg smashing
Gotta crack the egg sometimes to get the omelette within! We must redeem him
I have never cared about the like/dislike ratio on the trailer for something because those are immensely easy to fix. Like wait for the reviews to come out at least before you start dooming. Edit: I mean that nicely, considering the game is at least a few months away, it won't be good for you to constantly worry. Also remember that Dragon Age has (unfortunately) been part of a shitty online culture war for over a decade, so I would look at anyone who is saying Bioware is dead (and not just saying they wish the combat was more like Origins) with a critical eye.
Yep, I think I'm really dooming. I liked the gameplay and the majority of my friends hated it so much, so I felt like I was the only one who was excited. And it's everywhere
BioWare is only fucked if Veilguard is complete garbage and sells like shit. If that happens they’re done
People say not to worry about it, but this kind of negativity will definitely impact the new generation of players for sure. Like, yeah... Most fans are going to buy the game regardless of how they feel about the trailer. But the studio can't survive on us alone, it needs new players too! And those anti-woke clowns who were never the game's target audience in the first place are driving away young people who may have never heard of this game before. It's ridiculous. The backlash is so over the top. As a fan, I may not like what I've seen so far, but I'm still confident in the franchise and buying it day 1 for sure. I hope the game turns out great and makes a lot of money to satisfy EA just like how Inquisition did. Then people can shut the f up like how they did with BG3 or Loki TV series and go find another target to stroke their ego instead. 🙄
EA don't care. The game needs to sell. That's it. Reviews doesn't matter
I have no idea why people use woke to degrade this game, I mean I'm replaying Origins right now, a game from 2009, so 15 years ago before all the drama internet has today, and diversity and sexuality has not changed at all, so complaining about that in a Dragon Age game is very much out of place, almost like the people complaining never even played the previous games. It's ridiculous. The only thing that matters to me is that the story is done well, and with such a well written villain like Solas, I hope for the best.
If you like the game, just buy the game. Maybe give it likes wherever you can and spread some positivity. That's all you can do. There are too many haters in gaming and unfortunately they are too loud.
I wouldn't worry too much - most people who arrived on the hate train weren't going to buy the game anyway, if they knew anything about previous DA games xD I think DAV might lose some hardcore tactical combat fans who were still around after DAI but will certainly get some new fans as well. I certainly saw more positive coming out of gaming news outlets today than negative.
EA like other companies speak the language of money.
It doesn’t help that the popular unwashed rat Asmongold crapped all over this game without being constructive about it. I understand criticism but him and his goonies just hate to hate because “wokeness” ruins every game apparently. I will say however, the trailer was an absolute mess. Whoever worked on that should never be allowed to release a dragon age trailer in the foreseeable future ever again. I just hope we can all push away the hate and focus on the criticism and praises that the game needs to thrive.
It's been a bad week for anyone who likes to think positive. With all the trailer releases and what not it's been a shitfest of idiots screaming "woke" anytime they saw a women or a person of colour. I feel you because I am absolutely exhausted with this small group of people who are resistant to change or just meme-ing off of those that are serious. I saw a bunch of ppl claiming Flight Simulator was woke because they showed a female pilot?????? I wouldnt worry though, all that will talk to EA is the money. If the game sells incredibly well then it will be a success. I am still very very excited but this week has just been tiring reading so much vitriol and idiocy about almost every single game that was shown because they dare not to be about cis white dudes (hell, and some still were).
To be honest, I am also worried that devs will feel sad. Watching the gameplay video, I think they made a fantastic start, can’t wait to play the game as a long time fan.
At 35 years old I've finally learnt that gaming fanbases are toxic as fuck and are best ignored. I wish everyone else would do the same fucking thing.
Mobbing has been normalized and like many other games this game will be attacked and draw attention from folks who doesn’t give a shit about it but will help further their agenda, only good way to deal with all this bullshit is to ignore social media to an extend, such and fucked up world we live in where people are losing their shit cause of fictional character’s orientation, I’m all for companions being player sexual gives a lot of people options in their romance paths. This is a power fantasy game let’s us have our fun ffs.
If BioWare doesn’t want to close they need to make a good game. That’s it. BG3 was “woke”. It was a great game first though. Is DA:V a good game? Idk. The Gameplay didn’t look amazing. The old school DA:O fans rightfully feel like they’re being ignored by BioWare more with each installment of the franchise. Some of you are here for just the narrative/romance sim elements. Some of us are here for that *and* the tactical gameplay. The latter group is rightfully disappointed by what they saw in the trailer. I’m a huge Mass Effect fan. I’m of the opinion that Mass effecting the combat system *could* work. But idk. It needs to be fun. Also importantly, *it needs to be fun to a large percentage of the current DA fanbase* since that is the primary market for this game. It’s the fourth installment of a narrative driven series with no multiplayer and several returning characters. If they can’t make the current player base happy then they’re probably sunk since this isn’t the type of game to bring in a ton of new players. *with that being said, it is DEFINITELY worrisome that the old school fans of the series are saying loudly they think this won’t be as fun* It’s not just culture war bs even though that is surely part of it. If BioWare closes it’ll be because they failed to put out any good games since 2014. It’ll be because they didn’t understand who their primary audience is. It’ll be because they lost the plot of what made them great. And if that’s the case they’ll deserve it. I’m extremely hopeful that it won’t happen and DA:V will be fun.
Also, take into consideration people like me who don't care to like or dislike most videos. Most of the time, I like a video it's just a quick way for me to save it to watch later, instead of adding it to the watch later list.
If people want to be miserable let them. Word of mouth will spread whether the game is actually good or not at release. It’s been so long and people were so into their expectations for a game that started as a bloody MMO that I knew a chunk of people could not be satisfied.
I mean no judgement for those who didn't like the gameplay for valid reasons bc preferences exist. But a lot of takes I've seen just are so far-fetched
Exactly. I can see that they’ve deviated from the original gameplay. I respect that sort of criticism. I respect people who simply don’t think it’s for them. I just hate the Fortnite/disney/marvel/bioware-is-doomed-because-its-not-my-cup-of-tea talk because it’s so dramatic
Honestly, same! And the gameplay didn't give me marvel vibe at all. For what it's worth, it made me even more excited when I saw Ghilan'nain. The girl is messed up. This is going to be pretty dark just because of her
Remember that there are a lot of people who don't play these games at all, just there to spread their message of hate. Don't worry, mate. And any publicity is good publicity.
None of it will matter if sales perform. Like people forget one of the most disliked trailers in YouTube history was a Call of Duty game - it still sold like hot cakes. People on the Internet just yell really loud but if the people who like what they're seeing go and buy it, the franchise and bioware will be fine. I genuinely don't think the "ugh it's woke" crowd are gonna impact how well the game performs - they're complaining in droves rn about the acolyte but viewership figures are some of the highest disney+ has ever had, so the vocal minority isn't really doing what they think they are. The issue I could more see is when they finally give us a release date. October is looking pretty full at the moment so bad time to release because it splits people's priorities, and November has a couple big releases already set, but i think this will be the most likely month if they do manage to stick to a 2024 release. So just have to hope no other really big franchises set up a November release because then it could be a really competitive month for them.
Reminds me of that screenshot of the boycott MW2 steam group where everyone was playing MW2. Like the internet is kinda famous at being terrible with the vote with your wallet.
There has been a not insignificant group of people that have hated every Dragon Age game since DAO, and wanted it to fail. And yet here we are.
I liked it. That matters to me. I'm likely going to buy it. That matters to me. If someone didn't like something then cool, that's for them to decide. It doesn't impact me whatsoever.
I'm mostly curious to know how management reacts to this, and how the success or marketing is measured overall? It can't be solely on YouTube likes/dislikes. Hmm...
Nothing in the trailer screamed 'woke' to me. Only red flag was art style being a bit off and I really disliked the character introductions being like smash bros. Gameplay trailer fixed that for me. I'm sure it'll be a great game, but remember. No pre orders.
To be honest, I think it’s the initial trailer and the sudden name change that hurt the sentiment towards the game. Initially I was mad at the gameplay trailer too, but I have warmed up to it now and I am really excited to play the game ☺️. I think most others will come around too if the game is good when it releases. Try instead and look at the downvotes as a symptom of how much people love this franchise and how they don’t want BioWare to mess it up, like they messed up ME with Andromeda
EA has Sims. How broken is that piece of garbage and they still don't care because people buy it. People will still buy it, maybe on a sale but they will.
EA won't care if it sells well. If is the operative word. But honestly so far I'm not even sure the game is for someone like me at all. First the awful trailer, then full action rog gameplay... I may need to pass on it and it'd be a first for a DA game for me (even if DA:I already made me pass on all its DLC save Trespasser).
Eh, most of the valid concerns have been drowned out by the anti-woke racists. I'm more worried about that, as it means Bioware might just choose to ignore all criticism.
I feel like this is the consequences of a bad first impression. Like that trailer was so off key that it inserted the idea "This isn't Dragon Age" in people's heads. The gameplay calmed some people down, but I don't think everyone was impressed with the combat and the limitations of it. So once you have the idea of this doesn't feel like Dragon Age, and then you see combat that looks a lot like other combat from other action games, you're going to get people still complaining. The trailer was obviously a mistake, but I think the gameplay demo was also a mistake to not show us something from deeper into the game where they could really show off the abilities, the wheel, how it would feel to give commands to companions, how technical it could be, etc. So right now it does feel a bit like they keep making problems for themselves with how they're rolling this out. Plus the fact that once the trailer was released, MANY people were coping that the art style was only for the trailer and then we found that not to be true. I know a lot of fans have turned around on it and like it now, but there's still going to be a lot of people that bump against that style. It's a bit odd how much this is reminding me of DA2 with a very polarizing art style and combat choice. And I just didn't think Bioware would try that again because of how it was received.
The biggest worry I have is only having 3 skills. I’m very very worried that combat will be monotonous.
The only number that matters is the number of sales, not YouTube dislikes that you need to (AFAIK) download add-on to view. Insane people who demand every character in every piece of media either be their exact demographic or a sex doll deserve the response you would give to a 7th cousin who showed up to your house naked doing cartwheels and started using the yard as a toilet
Remember: Every publicity is good publicity. You see 82k dislikes, I see 82k people showing interest in the game! Should it turn out to be good or at least successful, it will be a triumphant return to former greatness for Bioware. People love a good comeback story.
Angry internet right wing trolls so far are unsuccesfull in sacking any businesses - I wouldn't worry about it too much. I'm concerned about actual problems of the game - namely, the gameplay which is too Mass Effect.
Stop worrying about what other people think and try and get some balance in your life. You are hyperventilating over other peoples opinion of a game.
Wokenism dislikes weren't buying it anyway, what may be worrying is if the players are let down on realease (be it that the story is poorly-made or the game has Big Bugs making it un playable).
There's this whole movement to destroy anything seen as woke. But fun thing is, their hatred can't take back the money I will spend on this game.
These are just one of the reasons why the dislikes are hidden in YouTube. There's the mob mentality, and I kid you not I came across comments who said along the lines of, "haven't played DAO, DA2, and DAI, but the gameplay didnt get me hooked." There are also some channels rallying their viewers to dislike the DAV marketing stuff. Better to pay attention at constructive feedback or appreciation fortunately found in this subreddit. The other half of Twitter are fans already simping for the companions (breath of fresh air amidst negativity tbh). Bioware cares def. Just saw Mike Gamble tweet about Marauder Shields and improvement from ME:Andromeda's facial animations. Bioware even made a secret Community Council to consult with, in terms of improving their story and game as a whole. Everything boils down to players actually receiving the game and playing it. Can't wait to hear more of Solas' voice. Edit: In restrospect, YouTube doesn't pay for the dislikes lol. It's the views, so at least Bioware getting some cash out of it to fund their upcoming games.
Look. Some people don't like the game. That's fine. If it's just a bunch of the anti-woke crowd, it doesn't meant anything. They didn't buy the previous games and they sure wont buy this one. No loss. There's a lot of older fans like me who aren't sold on the new style, sure. but I'll probably pick it up on sale eventually, or play it through gamepass. Most of us probably will. If Bioware didn't get shuttered after the flop that was anthem, they'll survive an average performing Dragon Age. So relax.
Okay, thank you! Anthem is a really solid argument lol, I never thought about it before
Don‘t know, if I worked at BioWare I would get burnout and depression seeing this
While I don’t think this game will be anywhere near as good as an rpg as BG3, I do find it funny how a lot of the more extreme criticisms like “the dialogue is too cringy”, “they removed all the dark fantasy elements”, and “they made the game too trend chasing and casual” were the exact same shit I saw diehard BG1/2 and DAO fanboys say about BG3 all the way up until it’s launch.
The reception on here and over on good old tumblr seem fine, unlike when Andromeda was announced and revealed, so I wouldn't worry too much.
None of it matters, only thing that matters is sales. and what people don't get and have never gotten is that how a game is perceived does not necessarily translate to sales. Current estimates for Bioware have them making between 66 million in 2023. Given triple AAA games budgets if Vielguard cost $250 million to make it (which is high side of what triple A games cost putting it in the same realm as GTA 5 Last of us 2 or Cyberpunk 2077) selling 5 million units would still turn a profit Anthem sold 5 million units Andromeda Sold 5 million units the first dragon age? 3 million unites DAI between 6-8 million units Mass Effect? 3 million units. Mass effect 2? 5 million units Sure Anthem was a failure only because they expected to sell 6 million units and make a shit ton on micro transactions, didn't pan out. Andromeda? still made more money than the original mass effect. Bioware is in business because they are profitable maybe not as profitable as EA wants but they are not operating at a loss. and as far as money goes still one of the industry biggest hitters. people forget that maybe on a good year there are a handful of games that sell in the millions. what hurts a company is when it costs a ton to make and sells like shit, think psychonaughts or more importantly when a bunch of projects straight fail, you wont here about these so much but for instance Scalebound almost took out platinum.
I don’t know why some people are hiding their head in the send pretending the only people hating are the inrepresentative “anti-woke” brigade. There are average gamers that don’t find the gameplay and art style appealing: - going down to two companions sucks - not being able to control them like before sucks - having only 3 abilities sucks - having demons look like neon disco armor instead of monsters sucks - the skin textures (besides Harding) are a bit washed out and plastic feeling. - the intro felt very scifi and andromeda like I and a bunch of people I know couldn’t give a rats ass about the whole culture war nonsense. It’s just disappointing that the game is being progressively simplified and softified. And it will have an impact on sales. It might still be pretty successful, but not as successful as it could have been.
There weren't many abilities in DAI, but I switched between party members and thanks to this the gameplay was not particularly boring. But now I can't even do this :(
For real people are being disingenuous when defending the game. Most people don't care about "wokeness" or whatever. The main complains are the ones you listed. trying to discredit criticism as being bigoted won't help anyone.
For better or worse, all EA cares about is how well the game sells.
EA will only care about the $$$. They don’t give a shit about some dislikes lol. We’ll have to see what sales #s are like for the first month or two to see if we should be worried or not
Wait til the game comes out and the sales get measured. 89k people disliking a video and 5 million buying it launch week balance out pretty well.
It is concerning because all this backlash may affect the commercial success of the game... and that will influence the future of Bioware. I didn't really enjoy what I've seen, so I probably won't buy it day one. Will take my time first before deciding. But I hope it has a great critical response so we can have more Dragon Age in the future.
All that will matter is the answer that will be given in the post-launch report under the heading: ‘copies sold’.
It might sell more than the previous one.... People are just following the flow like sheeps, while other will buy it. Seriously, this game looks nothing like fortnight or is more woke than previous épisode I'm not a fan of less tactics, 3 character team, 3 skills by characters (biggest issue) but all and all it looks fun . While dai was quickly boring with its semi open World
Usually the "anti-woke" crowd are in the minority as seen clearly by BG3. Aslong as the game is good the game will sell well which is what matters to EA, not the dislikes on the youtube channel.
I think it looks worse than it is by now. I understood the backlash of this dumb trailer and I hated it too, but gameplay and story so far looks great. In the end, only sales will count, as always. So tell all your friends and hopefully DAV will have a great start nonetheless. Who knows, in the end, it could have been additional advertisement. However, I think the trailer did a damage that will never vanish fully, just like with Battlefield.
Those likes/dislikes are not a good metric for actual sales. EA also just hired a former PlayStation exec to a high level position to specifically focus on RPGs. I'm not worried about it. There's really no point in worrying right now.
To be fair, my initial reaction to the reveal trailer was "Is this a Fortnite expansion?" But I'm surprised with the hate on the gameplay reveal, seemed fine to me tbh
Sales speak louder than internet claims. Remember nickelback was the most hated band but they sold out concerts
It’s YouTube. The place is often a cesspool. We’ll only really have an idea of how well the game will do after jt comes out, and even then we won’t know for sure e
I wouldn't worry, the core of the dragon age community knows dragon age was diverse from the start. They tried this with Baldurs Gate 3 and even Dungeons and Dragons itself, both very successful. At the end of the day, only money talks and people will buy the game if they want to play it, regardless of any backlash. Another example that proves that point, the Hogwarts game.
The extension that 'shows' dislikes uses the dislike to like ratios of people who've got the extension installed for vague estimation. There's no reason to believe that (even if the calculations are reasonable, which I don't personally think they are) that this group is representative of general audiences and that the dislike numbers are accurate. Negativity is easy and sells, especially when we haven't actually seen the final game for any analysis. A dislike in particular requires basically no sunk cost for the disliker. The numbers are inflated compared to how many people actually care.
Why would you care? honestly. I liked the gameplay, and will buy it. I couldn't care less about if other people enjoy or not. And No, Bioware isn't closing, they have make ME4 anyway.
They're EA not an indie company people will buy the game if it's good they don't need to worry about gameplay reveal getting hate swarmed by far right YouTube Don't worry g
take into consideration the vocal minority of people hitting the dislike button just to be trolls, are hateful homophobes, and far right bigots. I would then say the like to dislike ratio would be a bit more balanced.
If it's consoling in any way, YouTube comments and dislikes say very little about the people that will see the game and be interested in it. Internet discourse only reaches so far into real life, and something being declared "woke" won't break its chances of being successful. Bg3 not only had a great product, but it had a great fandom that shared edits, funny moments and whatnot on TikTok, twitter, Pinterest etc. The fandom is already engaging with what we have now, I've been talking about the game with people I know. It'll be alright, the buzz about it will help with making it more popular
I wouldn't stress about it. Its becoming increasingly apparent that following internet reactions to upcoming media is like the older generations watching fox news. Its just there for angry people to fuel their anger, and for everyone else if you watch it too closely you're just stressing yourself out and putting yourself in an unhealthy mindstate for no reason. Lets see what happens on release. If a game is good then the internet hive mind that roams from new thing to new thing can't bring it down. Its tried to and failed many times on other games.
Ultimately it comes down to if the game is good or not. If the game is genuinely great it will do well. If it's not, it won't. After not releasing a well-received title for over a decade, firing almost all of the staff who worked on the original games and the troubled development Veilguard went through I don't think Bioware vanishing would be an unreasonable outcome, honestly. I hope Veilguard is a success and heralds a new generation of Bioware games with a fresh perspective, but it really could go either way at this point.
Problem isn't "wokeism" whatever that means. The game has changed way too radically. There are legit fears of loss of strategic depth and tone.
Youtube dislikes literally don't matter. A lot of those are bots and a lot of them are idiots complaining about "woke". What matters most is you like it. With starfield, sooo many people reviewbombed that game to be edgy brigading cringelords, but numbers wise it's been one of their most successful games ever. I wouldn't pay the dislikes on youtube any mind.
Dragon age now has become like Final Fantasy. The franchise is changing SO MUCH with each entry, that the fanbase is always alienated. But at the end of the day, they did good games. You can like some more or less, and some have aspects that are undeniably unpolished or that were a mechanic that did not work as good as they wanted, but the overall game is good, and I recommend playing all 3 of them. I love DAO, it was the better one for me. I also loved DAI, although there are many things that irritated me. And I enjoyed a lot DA2. Now, watching DA4 gameplay I can see I will not like it so much. And I comment, I place my concerns, I say “this is not my Dragon Age”. But as everyone said, this is feedback from someone that will most likely buy the game. It’s still engagement. So do not worry for the dislikes. Worry if there were no likes/dislikes altogether.
r/gaming has been pretty negative about this game so far, but then again you should never take that subreddit seriously
I'm more pissed that the legitimate criticism is being buried under these losers complaining about the "woke" stuff.
I haven't seen anyone complain about the game being woke, but I'm also not on twitter or wherever that kind of thing comes up. The reveal trailer was awful, and the gameplay reveal doesn't look great either. The enemies barely fight back in the gameplay reveal, there seems to be quick dodges, there is no swapping to other companions, and what looks to be a very limited number of abilities. When you take an IP and try to change it sometimes its a good thing, and sometimes its a disaster. If the game is bad it shouldn't sell, amd if EA's Bioware doesn't perform then let it die. It isn't the same compny anymore anyway, and then maybe the Devs who make worthwhile things can move on to make the next Larian or CD Project Red
The like to dislike ratio won’t matter if the game sells well. I do share some of your concerns, but I think it helps to keep in mind that sales are what matters, not social media buzz.
The likes wont really matter to EA. What matters are the pre order numbers etc. if these are bad i guess BioWare is going down.
I think fan base of Dragon Age was too fractured from the very beginning, even without conservative hate. I would like to see more in the style of Origins, but Veilguard isn't it, so it's natural that I would dislike it. But I wouldn't worry about EA before they can analyse sales. For what it worth, I think current outrage is just brining more attention to the game.
I wanted a big boy companion like iron bull, but they gave more twinks
If it’s a good game, it will do fine.
I guarantee it will not be like this on launch. The anti-woke crowd are as much of a minority as the super woke crowd. Most people who play these games are normies who don’t gaf either way. Unless the game is Andromeda or Anthem 2.0 and it gets really terrible word of mouth then I wouldn’t sweat it. I have a feeling the game is going to be good (I’m personally getting mass effect 2 vibes from it) and a lot of these people who are disliking the videos are still gonna buy it lmao.
Easy solution: don't delve this deep into games that haven't been released yet, because literally every word written about them is subjective opinion based on a version of the game that isn't even finished. Am I the only one who remembers life before we were all \*extremely fucking online\*? A game would come out, and then I'd hear it was good from people who actually played it, and then I would play it. No army of 8,000 online critics delivering half-assed clickbait overreactions. If you let the opinions of people who rely on clicks and views for their livelihood to affect \*your\* opinions on a game, especially before it's even released, you are going to have a bad time whether the game is actually good or not.
I think that video game developers understand that someone's going to complain about everything. Fan bases are terrible. Especially when they haven't played a game yet. I think that anyone who does this professionally understands that there's a lot of fan anxiety when details of new games come out, solely on the basis of the fact that it doesn't *look* familiar. When things look unfamiliar fans get scared. But you can't help that a new game looks different, because it's a new game. Literally be no way that a game made 14 years later would look and play the same as the previous game 😆 Not to mention, every single dragon age game has played differently than the one before it, and the grand majority of the fans once playing all of those games, don't have any really serious complaints. Even in the case of da2.... Da2 has many flaws, but it's still many fans favorite game in the franchise. I wouldn't be too worried about hurting the developer's feelings, as I'm sure that they know that when fans are anxious about a new game they can be bitches. Think that once the game gets actually played by people the numbers are going to shift.
What I don't understand is what did these people see in the trailer or in the game play footage that was so "Woke" it offended them? Was the art style too gay for them? What I find alarming is the growing number of young men in our society who have decided to choose the voices of hate to follow, who are just increasingly becoming more hateful, less empathetic and more nihilistic with every passing year. These people who hide behind being anti woke in reality are just a bunch of hateful, miserable assholes who are too cowardly to admit they hate women, minorities and gays openly. But really, I can usually see the pattern when these cretins and their brethren come out with their laughable crusade against "Woke", With how upset Dragon Age has made them, you'd have me believing that they had Ru Paul and the Seven Drag Queens on a quest to make sure Solas The Drag Goddess is able to remake the world into a massive Drag Show.
Dragon Age 2 received a lot of criticism yet here we are getting a 4th Dragon Age game. If the shareholders are happy, EA will not care.
It’s a self-made crisis by BioWare when they decided to start with sudden name change and awful reveal trailer. Expectations were already low but somehow they manage to set a starting point even lower. It’s an uphill battle for them now. Gameplay reveal was a step in the right direction. Whether they’ll be able to make enough profit to please EA lords only time will tell. Many people will wait for sale rather buying on release.
Honestly, Bioware is just a name right now. The people who made all the great Bioware games in the past are not there anymore. They will just make typical EA games from now on. And no, I don't think that EA cares about the backlash. Or about anything gamers may want, wish or think.
I thought we could not see dislikes on YouTube. (I can't see them). That there was a browser extension that claimed to show them, but it was just guessing.
I’ve been on the internet long enough to know that if you have a minority main character you’ll be downvoted into oblivion by people who do things like this like it’s their job. I wonder what the likes to dislikes on the AC shadows gameplay is. These people are ghouls. Now reading like feedback on social media has some value but things like RT audience score and YouTube dislikes is just checking to see how many ghouls went online today
Youtube dislikes dont even exist anymore. Don't worry about it. Besides, the gameplay trailer is getting a positive reaction
Can you give an estimate on what the reception actually looks like? All I’ve seen is a three way tug with one side liking it, another hating it, and another just wanting to wait and see. I’m not trying to sow any doubt here, and im genuinely wanting to know where the more positive feedback is coming from because from what I’ve seen on YouTube and here, it’s seems way more mixed
Yeah, me too. I've seen much more negativity everywhere, including streamers and bloggers
Honestly I’ve seen a bit more positive feedback and it seems more on equal footing but I’m probably just being too hopeful that people actually give it a chance. I know that it’s not going to be for everyone but the negativity seems to be really rabid and just…..idk it just hurts to see how much it seems people want this to fail instead of wanting to see BioWare make a genuine effort to make a comeback.
Yes, it does hurt. It's the same for me. I was so happy for them, like SO MUCH, and I was so proud of them but then this happened Where have you seen this positive feedback? I need this place bc I'm really so sad because of all the negativity
I’ve seen some comments on the livestream comment section here and there. And on this subreddit as well. That was what was giving me hope, and I’m just hoping that it will make a turnaround I’m not blind to biowares flaws. Andromeda was…..okay I thought it was okay ish when I played it, but it wasn’t great either. Anthem…..yeah i never played it and never planned to because I could tell where THAT was going. The layoffs and the development hell didn’t help. And the trailer we got on Sunday? Hoooo boy yeah I was not really a fan of it. But more often than not. BioWare managed to keep chugging and marching forward despite all the vitriol and criticisms, and would find their way back. That is something I can respect. But I guess we’re a minority in that we WANT them to get better and succeed again.
I have a bot to track down dislikes, I've been using it for years, so it's hard for me to ignore that I've seen so much negativity for gameplay as well, to be honest :(
Yea but its more of an estimate based on how many people didn't click "like" on the video. Its not an accurate way to measure anything. Also the people who complain about everythint are usually the loudest. The general take I hear is "pretty ok"
Okay, thank you, it makes me feel better
Ignore the dislikes. What are you using to even see them? Turn off the extension.
I've been using it for years, so I didn't really care until I saw the amount of dislikes. I'll turn them off until the game comes out
Also this is why the fans shouldn’t have jumped on the hate train to begin with. the whole it looks like fortnite bs got that train going
This is silly. Fans should be more careful about their criticism in general but nobody needs to hold in their disappointment because of some internet assholes brigading everything. If you mute 'woke' you'll never see like 90% of it and won't miss anything because nobody uses it except for internet assholes.
Even bad press is good press when it comes to game marketing. Now if we get to release and people who've played are posting reasonable negative reviews that might skew things. Having said that both da2 and dai both copped flack and still.. here we are
Fuck the dislikes. More than half of them are worthless because they come from people who made up their minds years ago or people who don't even know what Dragon Age is.
This. There's so many people backing up their complaints with "this isn't Dragon Age". So you're the one that's deciding what is Dragon Age now? Because you played one game 15 years ago? Okay bud, great point.