Recent reviews by Foregone

Full throttle popcorn rpg greatness. Ending to the first act already made it goty for me.
It's Infinitely better than the Inquisition and Dragon Age 2. Origins is something else though, happens once in 10 or 20 years.

This is the most satisfying combat in a Dragon Age game. I'd go as far as to say that this iteration of battlemage and sword and board warrior are among my favorite in gaming next to the Souls series. For optimal experience I'd suggest playing on hard or even the hardest difficulty as anything below the Underdog (hard) I found to be very easy. However, don't expect the combat to be fun on higher difficulties unless you are playing around perfect block as warrior for example. Dodging basic attacks prolongs the encounters significantly and is not how the class is played. As Mortismal mentioned in his review - the combat is spongy and bad only if you're really bad at it or playing it plain wrong build-wise.

I recommend playing a Champion if you're opting for the grey warden as it feels best lore-wise and the description of the subclass is directly tied to the said origin. I'm mentioning this because I feel like most people will play a grey warden after being denied to do so since Origins. There are many interactions tied to this origin in the first act alone, as often in dialogues as in random commentary and banter while exploring.

I've played pretty much any rpg worth mentioning, especially crpgs where dialogues and writing shine in general. Admittedly, dialogue here is not the driving force, but it's not terrible either. The faults of this game are hyperbolized to a sickening extent. As of writing this "review" I consider this to be the biggest injustice in gaming yet, in the context of the controversy surrounding it and how it possibly damaged or destroyed any chance for the future of the franchise. It is what it is. However, the content creators who either skimmed through the game or didn't play it at all, along with the horde of hateful mob who definitely didn't play it, created the biggest cesspool I have ever seen on the internet when it comes to the subject matter. Regurgitating 2 or 3 different optional dialogues and judging the entire 100 hours of the game based off on that alone is borderline lunacy.

That being said, I understand if someone doesn't get hooked in the first 5 hours or doesn't even like the game if they feel it strayed too far from its origins, doesn't like the art direction etc. First five hours basically feature effortless puzzles and are easing you up into the game, a tutorial of sorts as there are no side quests at this point in the game and the world didn't open up. I had my doubts too as a longtime fan, Origins being my favorite, especially since the first 2 to 3 hours felt somewhat alien to me, but eventually this got dispelled as I ventured into some iconic locations, got some interesting lore revelations, did all the side activities up to act 2 and now I'm really looking forward to the rest of the ride. Special mention to the sheer amount of Solas' side content which people who skimmed through the main quest only reported as something that is missing from the game, and that is simply untrue. These range from playable Solas' memories to long cutscenes which make you understand his decisions, past and present, better.

I previously mentioned lore, and this is clearly biased as I consider Dragon Age ip to be the absolute best when it comes to fantasy which originated in video gaming itself, and not in a book or a tabletop game, even though it clearly borrows many things from the goated settings that are well-established in said formats.

My biggest gripe with the game is the lack of anything other than the noble, funny (but actually unfunny), and stoic dialogue options even though I never played an evil character in any rpg, simply due to the fact that the good choice has no weight or weights very little when there's no visual and audio representation of what you're losing by not going the evil, selfish or greedy route which translates to the player feeling like he has less control over his character than he should. Another annoyance comes from the game not respecting your intelligence by barraging you with explanations of what just happened even when it's the most basic thing imaginable like the door opening in front of you after you solve a puzzle. Ultimately, Rook is a good guy. You can steer him and shape him up to an extent, but not very much, sadly.

What it does best? Everything else really, plus the sheer spectacle and the fun factor, It's honestly an rpg like no other in that respect. I have zero fatigue from doing all the side and main quests multiple times over due to mistakes in the character creation and desire to try out different classes and reading every entry in what I feel is Bioware's best codex yet. The gameplay section in the last hour of Act 1 is incredible and honestly makes other great games in the rpg genre look silly in comparison.

Companions are overall great in standard Bioware fashion, outside of Taash and Bellara for now, as I didn't find their side quests as compelling as I did for the rest of the crew. Neve, Lucanis and Davrin, along with Harding's second quest have all been solid.

As for some other positives - the game runs buttery smooth on my 3070. I currently play on 1080 with constant 120+ frames per second on average. It has no microtransactions and retains the 59.99$ AAA price on pc.

Don't let people who played this for 5 hours tell you that it's not a Dragon Age game. By the time you finish the first act, you will see for yourself that it is. It's just a different Dragon Age game - with a faster-paced and actiony combat, less dialogue driven but a great storyline and spectacle throughout, hence my opening statement. For some people, this might seem shallow and not in the true spirit of what the Origins achieved in 2009 and that's a completely valid stance. If you're on the fence though, it's best to see for yourself.

Update after finishing two full playthroughs on nightmare mode (Champion and Spellblade) and 100% the achievements, which is not hard to do in this game, admittedly. Nothing has really changed significantly except for the fact that the game left an even better impression in the end. Act 1 ending and the entire Act 3 are definite highlights of the game, along with around 70% of the companions' quests. Writing is noticeably better once the end of Act 1 mission comes into play, right until the end of the game. I've played through all crucial decisions as far as story and companions themselves go, and some of it is gut-wrenching, some of it is wholesome, and some of it is lacking an emotional impact the aforementioned carry. This game is so obviously flawed yet such a pleasure to go through, even to my own surprise as I'm someone more inclined to dark fantasy, which is why Origins will always be my favorite game in the series. It was an absolute joy to roleplay a Grey Warden in this game, I cannot stress that enough. The origin-specific interactions in this game are the best I've seen in any rpg. I honestly cannot think of one I played where your origin plays so much into banter dialogue and even some specific quotes from your enemies.

Not a full review, as someone will do that far better than I ever could, but a definite thumbs up for this game, and a few personal standout features for me:

- spectacular use of music and sound in general
- James' voice actor does a phenomenal job. Not a "cool" voice or instantly recognizable by any means, but one that fits this broken character too well and is incredibly believable in its delivery
- I actually loved the combat, especially melee. James' screams and untrained movement during the combat add to the brutality and realism of it. It feels like you're fighting for your life as opposed to just curb stomping your way through.

Video performance can be questionable in certain parts of the game, but not enough to lessen the overall experience, not for me.

Extremely depressing game, but it could not be anything but with the context and circumstance surrounding it.

Was and still is one of the greats.

It was the best game I played this year, and I didn't even know about its existence until its release.

It's extremely challenging, probably the hardest game I played in 33 years, with great aesthetics, gunplay, bladeplay, and movement to all make it worth it in the end. It's a game that requires you to use every single mechanic in the game effectively to complete it on the lowest difficulty.

I also loved the lore behind the levels that developers posted in a blog format.

The very best thing though, despite the difficulty, is that I had zero fatigue from playing and completing it, immediately wanting to continue pushing myself on harder difficulty, which I plan to do as soon as I shrug off the busy schedule of games lined up in October.

I cannot recommend this game enough, especially for its asking price.

Remember to blink and don't bring the short-ranged pistols into the very last layer and the final boss fight. I learned that the hard way.

Played on Steam Deck.

Another one in the sea of unplayable games on launch. In early access for a thousand years without giving more than zero thought that the launch might be a problem when people flock due to the hype generated a week or two before release. And no, I don't want to play offline because my brother and I planned on playing together.

Atrocious live service. Can't play for days properly. When you do get to play the game, it frequently crashes.

I'm having a blast playing this one, even though it is very rough around the edges, work in progress title.

Nothing about this game is typical, whether it's the actual characters, setting, voice acting, story progression through cinematics - It's all very odd. However, it really does feel like a labor of love. The imagery and the setting are incredibly dark and clearly inspired by the black metal band Batushka. In terms of an overall experience, to me, It's akin to something like King Arthur, where Mordred is the protagonist. I will segment this further with some of the pros and cons.

Cinematics after or before missions are quite often not translating mission aftermaths as clearly as they should. I will not give out examples here as they would be spoiler-heavy, but I found it so confusing sometimes that I was certain that a portion of a cinematic or a separate cinematic didn't play out at all.

When it comes to the dice roll combat system, I found it to be incredibly inconsistent. I mean, this is not the first game I played that has a system in place similar to this one, but I find it really odd that a ranged enemy unit can parry me with their gun four times in a row while I'm attacking with my melee-heavy main character. I would dismiss this as bad luck, but it's quite frequent on all characters in my party.

I'm not entirely sure whether I understand all the systems in place here - especially insanity and stress, but I find the overall ways you can customize your main character to be satisfying,

Missions are relatively fast, which I do tend to like in games like these. And despite its inconsistencies, combat is generally fun with additions like ambush from cover for melee characters, as well as positioning, limited ammo and reloading for ranged.

I am pleased to say that, even though It's in early access, the game is entirely playable from start to finish. Clearly my time spent in the game doesn't reflect that, but the recent developer update stated as such.

Never wanted it to end.