{"id":185560,"date":"2024-06-09T19:30:36","date_gmt":"2024-06-10T00:30:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blizzardwatch.com\/?p=185560"},"modified":"2024-08-15T14:05:11","modified_gmt":"2024-08-15T19:05:11","slug":"dragon-age-veilguard-trailer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blizzardwatch.com\/2024\/06\/09\/dragon-age-veilguard-trailer\/","title":{"rendered":"Maybe Dragon Age: The Veilguard isn&#8217;t actually vaporware \u2014\u00a0there&#8217;s a trailer now"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In its heyday BioWare put out <em>Dragon Age<\/em> games at an unbelievably fast pace. <em>Dragon Age: Origins<\/em> came out in 2009, <em>Dragon Age 2<\/em> in 2011, and <em>Dragon Age: Inquisition<\/em> in 2014. (And at the same time, the company rolled out the entire<em> Mass Effect<\/em> trilogy, with games in 2007, 2010, and 2012.) But now it&#8217;s 2024, and the latest <em>Dragon Age<\/em> game has been stuck in development, with the team suffering leadership turnover, layoffs, and general attrition. And all the while, the game that would become<em> Dragon Age 4<\/em> has gone through a lot of iterations&#8230; and very little of the game has been show publicly.<\/p>\n<p>BioWare promises the game will finally arrive in 2024 \u2014 which I remind you is already halfway over \u2014 so a look at the actual game is overdue. Today we finally got a trailer for the recently-renamed<a href=\"https:\/\/blog.bioware.com\/2024\/06\/06\/theveilguard\/\"><em> Dragon Age: The Veilguard\u00a0<\/em>(previously <em>Dreadwolf<\/em>)<\/a>. And, well, it has an odd vibe.<\/p>\n<div class=\"arve\" data-mode=\"normal\" data-oembed=\"1\" data-provider=\"youtube\" id=\"arve-youtube-4f3n4lxw4_y66dfdf10f024e184987192\" style=\"max-width:900px;\">\n<span class=\"arve-inner\"><br \/>\n<span class=\"arve-embed arve-embed--has-aspect-ratio\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 500 \/ 281\"><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen class=\"arve-iframe fitvidsignore\" data-arve=\"arve-youtube-4f3n4lxw4_y66dfdf10f024e184987192\" data-src-no-ap=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/4F3N4Lxw4_Y?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"505.8\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-presentation allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/4F3N4Lxw4_Y?feature=oembed&#038;iv_load_policy=3&#038;modestbranding=1&#038;rel=0&#038;autohide=1&#038;playsinline=0&#038;autoplay=0\" width=\"900\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n<p><\/span><br \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\">{\"@context\":\"http:\\\/\\\/schema.org\\\/\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/blizzardwatch.com\\\/2024\\\/06\\\/09\\\/dragon-age-veilguard-trailer\\\/#arve-youtube-4f3n4lxw4_y66dfdf10f024e184987192\",\"type\":\"VideoObject\",\"embedURL\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\\\/embed\\\/4F3N4Lxw4_Y?feature=oembed&iv_load_policy=3&modestbranding=1&rel=0&autohide=1&playsinline=0&autoplay=0\"}<\/script>\n<\/div>\n<p>The trailer feels rather like the introduction for a heist flick (or a Guy Ritchie film, or both), and the art is more stylized than we&#8217;ve seen in <em>Dragon Age<\/em> before. And, having not seen much of the game to date \u2014 just a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=Nw3lrXlti-8\">handful of teasers<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=W7x685DxMcw\">that suggested<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=tCokMTQ6qKk\"><em>Inquisition<\/em>-style art<\/a> \u2014 it&#8217;s certainly a surprise.<\/p>\n<p>After a couple of watches, the style is growing on me. And while I&#8217;ve heard some \u2014 okay, a lot of \u2014 negativity about the video&#8217;s superhero-style vibe, I think it works for Varric, who always wants to dramatize. As a character introduction trailer, it gets the point across effectively with a title and a short sequence of each character in action.<\/p>\n<p>Returning for <em>Veilguard<\/em> are fan-favorites Varric and Harding (though it seems like Varric will not be a full companion, as he was narrating that punchy intro sequence rather than in it). But as with most <em>Dragon Age<\/em> games, a lot of the cast is new. The video introduces:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Harding (Scout), otherwise known as everyone&#8217;s best friend in <em>Dragon Age: Inquisition.<\/em> She&#8217;s a Dwarf who&#8217;s shown wielding her usual bow, so we can expect a ranged type, perhaps mimicking Varric&#8217;s usual skillset since she&#8217;s seen fighting alongside him in the trailer.<\/li>\n<li>Neve (Detective), a Human with steampunk-style prosthetic leg, who we see using magic to blast an enemy at close range. She&#8217;s a mage-type, but her shadowy introduction suggests there might be a little roguishness character to her as well.<\/li>\n<li>Lucanis (Mage Killer), a Human dual-wielding swords and getting right in the middle of the fight. We&#8217;ve seen mage hunters before, and they&#8217;re a dangerous bunch. Expect a DPS-focused melee fighter, perhaps with some extra magic defense.<\/li>\n<li>Bellara (Veil Jumper), an Elf with some kind of device on their arm that seems to transform into a bow. We see her jumping out of a Fade portal, but there&#8217;s no suggestion she&#8217;s a magic user.<\/li>\n<li>Emmrich (Necromancer), a Human with the power to raise the dead. His face is the most stylized of the lot, to the point where it really stands out (for better or worse). As a Necromancer, he may hail from Tevinter, like Dorian in <em>Inquisition \u2014<\/em> Dorian was also a necromancer, but raising the dead wasn&#8217;t a notable part of his playstyle. The trailer certainly suggests Emmrich spends more time playing to type.<\/li>\n<li>Davrin (Warden), an Elven warrior-type, shown playing defense with a sword and shield. He seems to have some sort of gryphon companion which we see leaping from his shield to maul a Darkspawn \u2014 otherwise known as the ultimate ranger class fantasy. Hey, does this mean we&#8217;re finally getting a real Warden on the team, for the first time since <em>Dragon Age: Origins?<\/em><\/li>\n<li>Taash (Dragon Hunter), a Qunari shown dual-wielding axes and leaping through the air to hit a dragon in the face. She&#8217;s certain to be a brawler-style warrior, and already reminds me of Iron Bull from <em>Inquisition<\/em>. (But who am I kidding? No one could replace Iron Bull.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Then, of course, there&#8217;s you. As always, your character will be customizable to play what you want, and you should be able to supplement your strengths and weaknesses with a party of your choice. Each character has what BioWare promises will be a &#8220;deep and compelling&#8221; story, and the gameplay around companions sounds very much as you would expect from a <em>Dragon Age<\/em> game.<\/p>\n<p>Fortunately, we won&#8217;t have to wait years for the next trailer: a 15 minute gameplay trailer airs on June 11, in just a few days. And,even though this character trailer makes me a little bit uneasy due to the shift in tone and style, I&#8217;m still eager to see more of the latest game. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=CTNwHShylIg\">You&#8217;ll find the next trailer here<\/a> once it airs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In its heyday BioWare put out Dragon Age games at an unbelievably fast pace. Dragon Age: Origins came out in 2009, Dragon Age 2 in 2011, and Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2014. (And at the same time, the company rolled out the entire Mass Effect trilogy, with games in 2007, 2010, and 2012.) But now&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":185571,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[78839,66854],"tags":[3829,78582,78589,78590],"yst_prominent_words":[50750,50747,44159,8662,11111,45496,50749,50746,11951,15444,12926,13142,50347,8249],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blizzardwatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185560"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blizzardwatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blizzardwatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blizzardwatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blizzardwatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185560"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blizzardwatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":185674,"href":"https:\/\/blizzardwatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185560\/revisions\/185674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blizzardwatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/185571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blizzardwatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blizzardwatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blizzardwatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185560"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blizzardwatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=185560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}