Dragon Age: Therapy Guard

The most all over the place, Dragon Age game to date. Completely confused as to what it wants to be in all aspects; from themes, narrative, lore, combat; you name it. It has zero idea what it wants to be.

The narrative is always at odds with itself, while the world building itself is a mix of fantastical, grim, and urgent; speaking to your companions feel like a therapy session is about to start, even to the point it completely derails the tension the current event(s) is going on so you can take a moment to 'talk out their feelings and make them become the best of friends' despite people dying all around you. Therapy language is good and can even have it's place in a game, but -all the time-? For example, your companion getting sad and depressed and talking about small victories when a city is currently being ravaged by a rampaging dragon and people are dying all around. It isn't the time to be talking about your feelings, time is of the essence and each moment you waste, another person dies. Realistically you would think your character would tell them to be quiet, now is not the time for that, you have bigger things to worry about. No, not at all, it's time for therapy session!

The first part of the game feels like a Dragon Age game for about 3 or so hours, as does the last hour and a half or so. What does that leave you in the middle? Upwards of 50+ hours of mess. As larger reviewers have said, it feels like HR is indeed in the room at all times when important dialog comes up.
Lore wise, it contradicts itself, rewrites and retcon things. Some good, some bad, and a hell of a lot of god awful. Often spitting in the face of those invested in the series with the constant back and forth rug pulling to the point your backside would be sore as hell from all the constant falling.

Gameplay wise, it's obvious this was meant to be a multiplayer live-service title as everything is cut up into small sections, zones, and feel less like a large lived in area instead of a sequence of things to go smack with your sword. Combat is rather generic hack and slash affair mixed in with some old Mass Effect: Charge & Detonate ability combos with your companions, which by the way, you cannot control at all, they do little to no damage to the enemy past the abilities you make them use, and they are immortal. They feel like walking, talking combat abilities more than actual companions. The rewards you get mainly are either skins, weapon augment upgrades, change of weapons, and such; all color coded in ranks. The good ending tied to a mix of the weird MMO-like reputation grind for factions (mainly selling them items), one side-quest, and dialog choices AT THE END OF THE GAME, make your choices for many things feel pointless and that they don't matter at all.

Companions are a complete mixed bag to pure awful and all romance events are unfulfilling. Personal quests for them are also all over the place. For example, Vincent Price's, err excuse me, Emmerich's personal questline stands out being a grand adventure of death rights for his homeland to a grand jaunt into a spooky mansion mystery into a battle in the fade against a half-lich is a grand time, albeit a bit mixed in narrative themes and all over the place pacing wise; is one of the stand out questlines. And even with this, all of them still feel like a personal therapy session to the point of: "I could be charging my companion for this sort of thing, I'd make more money doing this than saving the world."
Taash's entire character needs to be rewritten. Instead of an adventure of self discovery and the problems you may face when you come to terms with yourself and how others see you, it comes off as a preachy, whiny, and filled to the brim of self-important moral grand-standing where everyone in the room claps for their bravery. Ignoring already pre-established lore and using modern language (and therapy dialog the entire questline) for terminology and the like. This is an insult to DA fans and the people they claim they represent.
Romance quests come and go to the point it's gone and fulfilled when you blink. There is -no payoff- at all like previous DA games and it feels more like a contractual agreement than something to look forward to and grow as a character. Honestly, the game could have -zero- of these and you wouldn't lose anything, it's that bad.

Art Direction, good ol'/bad ol' art direction. A mixed bag, everyone looks so clean and shiny to the point of becoming plastic dolls. I don't love the art direction, I don't outright hate it either. For a DA game though, it feels out of place and this feels more like said earlier, something bright and flashy to sell cosmetics in a live service title. It has a similar styling of Apex Legends, but amped up on the cartoony levels. Whatever they can do to sell more skins.

Audio itself, one of the few saving graces. Nothing obnoxious, the sound quality is there as is the vocal performances of whatever the cast were given to speak. I don't blame them for their performances, just the entire garbage dialog script given to them. Voice direction scripts can make or break something and the best of voice acting can only go so far if they have to withhold that voice direction.

Performance? Game runs quite well, a large sleuth of options to choose from, works on a lot of systems outside the box. One thing you can't really complain I guess, but that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things for this game, eh? A mediocre game that runs well is just that, a mediocre game that runs well.

I do not recommend this game at all, even on sale, and that's coming from someone who unlocked every achievement and grind hardcore to unlock the best ending. If you somehow must play this game for some reason, I will tell you, while they have a few cool and interesting ideas, the crushing mediocrity and massive amounts of narrative dissonance will constantly smack you over the head.

Temper Your Expectations.

Dragon Age: Therapy Guard The most all over the place, Dragon Age game to date. Completely confused as to what it wants to be in all aspects; from themes, narrative, lore, combat; you name it. It has zero idea what it wants to be. The narrative is always at odds with itself, while the world building itself is a mix of fantastical, grim, and urgent; speaking to your companions feel like a therapy session is about to start, even to the point it completely derails the tension the current event(s) is going on so you can take a moment to 'talk out their feelings and make them become the best of friends' despite people dying all around you. Therapy language is good and can even have it's place in a game, but -all the time-? For example, your companion getting sad and depressed and talking about small victories when a city is currently being ravaged by a rampaging dragon and people are dying all around. It isn't the time to be talking about your feelings, time is of the essence and each moment you waste, another person dies. Realistically you would think your character would tell them to be quiet, now is not the time for that, you have bigger things to worry about. No, not at all, it's time for therapy session! The first part of the game feels like a Dragon Age game for about 3 or so hours, as does the last hour and a half or so. What does that leave you in the middle? Upwards of 50+ hours of mess. As larger reviewers have said, it feels like HR is indeed in the room at all times when important dialog comes up. Lore wise, it contradicts itself, rewrites and retcon things. Some good, some bad, and a hell of a lot of god awful. Often spitting in the face of those invested in the series with the constant back and forth rug pulling to the point your backside would be sore as hell from all the constant falling. Gameplay wise, it's obvious this was meant to be a multiplayer live-service title as everything is cut up into small sections, zones, and feel less like a large lived in area instead of a sequence of things to go smack with your sword. Combat is rather generic hack and slash affair mixed in with some old Mass Effect: Charge & Detonate ability combos with your companions, which by the way, you cannot control at all, they do little to no damage to the enemy past the abilities you make them use, and they are immortal. They feel like walking, talking combat abilities more than actual companions. The rewards you get mainly are either skins, weapon augment upgrades, change of weapons, and such; all color coded in ranks. The good ending tied to a mix of the weird MMO-like reputation grind for factions (mainly selling them items), one side-quest, and dialog choices AT THE END OF THE GAME, make your choices for many things feel pointless and that they don't matter at all. Companions are a complete mixed bag to pure awful and all romance events are unfulfilling. Personal quests for them are also all over the place. For example, Vincent Price's, err excuse me, Emmerich's personal questline stands out being a grand adventure of death rights for his homeland to a grand jaunt into a spooky mansion mystery into a battle in the fade against a half-lich is a grand time, albeit a bit mixed in narrative themes and all over the place pacing wise; is one of the stand out questlines. And even with this, all of them still feel like a personal therapy session to the point of: "I could be charging my companion for this sort of thing, I'd make more money doing this than saving the world." Taash's entire character needs to be rewritten. Instead of an adventure of self discovery and the problems you may face when you come to terms with yourself and how others see you, it comes off as a preachy, whiny, and filled to the brim of self-important moral grand-standing where everyone in the room claps for their bravery. Ignoring already pre-established lore and using modern language (and therapy dialog the entire questline) for terminology and the like. This is an insult to DA fans and the people they claim they represent. Romance quests come and go to the point it's gone and fulfilled when you blink. There is -no payoff- at all like previous DA games and it feels more like a contractual agreement than something to look forward to and grow as a character. Honestly, the game could have -zero- of these and you wouldn't lose anything, it's that bad. Art Direction, good ol'/bad ol' art direction. A mixed bag, everyone looks so clean and shiny to the point of becoming plastic dolls. I don't love the art direction, I don't outright hate it either. For a DA game though, it feels out of place and this feels more like said earlier, something bright and flashy to sell cosmetics in a live service title. It has a similar styling of Apex Legends, but amped up on the cartoony levels. Whatever they can do to sell more skins. Audio itself, one of the few saving graces. Nothing obnoxious, the sound quality is there as is the vocal performances of whatever the cast were given to speak. I don't blame them for their performances, just the entire garbage dialog script given to them. Voice direction scripts can make or break something and the best of voice acting can only go so far if they have to withhold that voice direction. Performance? Game runs quite well, a large sleuth of options to choose from, works on a lot of systems outside the box. One thing you can't really complain I guess, but that doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things for this game, eh? A mediocre game that runs well is just that, a mediocre game that runs well. I do not recommend this game at all, even on sale, and that's coming from someone who unlocked every achievement and grind hardcore to unlock the best ending. If you somehow must play this game for some reason, I will tell you, while they have a few cool and interesting ideas, the crushing mediocrity and massive amounts of narrative dissonance will constantly smack you over the head. Temper Your Expectations.