The Veilguard Better Than Inquisition?

Dragon Age: Inquisition launched in 2014, and it then took ten years to get the long-anticipated next entry in the Dragon Age series, Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Veilguard sees players take the role of Rook, as they gather allies to stop the plans of Solas, the Dreadwolf. As the next game in the series, you should absolutely play Veilguard if you are a Dragon Age fan.

But, is Veilguard better than its predecessor, Inquisition? Or does it fail as a sequel? In some areas, Veilguard succeeds in improving on mechanics in the series. In other ways, it matches Inquisition, and in others, it fails to live up to the precedent set by the rest of the series.

10

Graphics – Veilguard

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is certainly the best looking game in the series, if nothing else. The Dragon Age games have never been particularly lookers, with some of the character models being a bit stiff, or not aging very well. However, The Veilguard has beautiful character models.

The characters and creatures look realistic, but not in an uncanny valley way like Mass Effect: Andromeda. They look great, and the hair physics is one notable feature that works beautifully. The world itself is also gorgeous, with detailed environments that vary in style, and most importantly, the game is extremely well optimized on PC, which is a feat for games these days.

9

Soundtrack – Inquisition

The Dragon Age series is known for having memorable, catchy fantasy soundtracks, and unfortunately, The Veilguard has missed the mark on this. Sometimes it is hard to even notice that new music is playing, or anything worth remembering, besides the boss fight themes being a bit catchy.

On the other hand, Inquisition has a load of memorable soundtracks, even including the main menu theme, which comes back in the game itself during key moments, and personifies the Inquisition faction, and game legacy overall. It feels like the soundtrack for an epic fantasy movie, which reflects the core of the game as well.

8

Companions – Tie

Both Inquisition and Veilguard have a great cast of companions. Some may disagree on this, as we have had ten years to become endeared to the cast of Inquisition. However, both games have companions that are better than others, and some are even equal, which leads us to a tie for this category.

Iron Bull and Taash are both excellent Quinari companions, while not being clones of each other. The games do have some characters that are a bit…similar, such as Vivienne and Neve, the classy female human ice mages, and Sera and Bellara, the eccentric female elf rogues.

There are also some that are similar, but do them better. Dorian is the necromancer of Inquisition, similar to Emrich, and Emrich ends up feeling cheap in comparison. On the other hand, Inquisition recycles Varric as a companion from Dragon Age 2, whereas Veilguard gives us Harding as a companion this time around, while in Inquisition she was only a side character.

Both games have ups and downs for their companions, but at the end of the day, both are solid rosters.

7

Story – Inquisition

Veilguard does a much better job at introducing the story, starting off with an action-packed mission full of demons, cultivating in confronting Solas as he tears open the Fade and sets the events of the main plot in motion. Unfortunately, the story does not keep that momentum.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Inquisition begins fairly mediocre, but quickly ramps up and gets you invested in what is going on around Thedas, and the need to build up an army. Veliguard feels like it plagiarizes that same idea, but on a much smaller scale and in ways that just feel like checking off a list, rather than progressing relations and gathering allies like in Inquisition.

The game also does not take into account many things from the previous games, which was a big disappointment for fans. In Inquisition, you have choices being impactful from all the way back in Dragon Age: Origins, but in Veilguard, only a few choices in Inquisition matter, and you can’t even transfer your save over from Inquisition.

6

Combat – Veilguard

The Veilguard is similar to another long-awaited sequel to a Bioware game, Mass Effect: Andromeda, in the sense that, regardless of other aspects that may stumble compared to their predecessors, the combat is the best in the series.

Inquisition had a problem of feeling stiff at times, both in movement and in overall combat-feel. All three classes amounted to just holding one button to repeat attacks, and occasionally using an ability. This was most prevalent in the Mage class.

Veilguard makes the combat a lot more fluid and dynamic, allowing you to sprint, jump, do light and heavy attacks, combos, and combine abilities for detonations. To compare the Mage gameplay between the two, in Inquisition you are basically a stationary turret holding the attack button, with not many options to get away from enemies if you are swarmed.

In Veilguard, you can dodge and move much more freely, as well as be effective both at range with the staff and in close quarters with the orb and dagger.

5

Exploration – Veilguard

While the maps in The Veilguard aren’t as large or open as the areas in Inquisition, the exploration is much more rewarding and fun. Throughout the different areas of the game, you’ll find chests, solve puzzles, and unlock shortcuts while navigating. In Inquisition, the maps were a lot larger, but relatively empty and not as fun to explore with the more rigid movement of that game.

Each companion also has a unique ability that will unlock new ways to interact with the maps as you get the companions. For example, once you get Taash, you can detonate the various bombs throughout the different maps, unlocking new areas to explore or shortcuts to previously explored areas.

This makes it both fun to explore, and means you will have something new to check out whenever you unlock a new companion or progress in the story.

4

Writing And Atmosphere – Inquisition

Writing is probably the most subjective category on the list, but Veilguard does fall flat. The writing, while not completely unbearable, does not really feel like Dragon Age. Dragon Age is meant to be a dark fantasy setting, and even in the more dark and dreary parts of the story in Veilguard, it still feels too lighthearted and like things aren’t taken seriously enough.

This also comes through in the dialogue for Rook. Bioware’s signature system is having a wheel of different dialogue choices with symbols depicting their intent, such as a harlequin mask for a joke response or a tearful eye for an emotional one.

However, any sense of distinguishability in these options is absent, and they all end up feeling like slightly different variations of the same answer. The choices that are supposed to be forceful or rude also don’t live up to that expectation at all.

3

RPG Elements – Inquisition

At its core, the Dragon Age series is a series of high fantasy RPG’s, so RPG elements are important. Veilguard is lacking in many RPG elements, taking on more of a God of War 2018, action-adventure style, rather than an RPG. For example, you can choose armor and weapons, but the armor is all pre-made outfits, and you cannot customize the gauntlets, legs or boots, only your full body and helmet.

There are some interesting ideas with the faction system, in which you can choose a faction during character creation and this will affect your character’s backstory as well as interactions in the world.

However, unlike in Origins, where you play through a small, but impactful, beginning section based on your background, your faction of choice here does not make any changes to the start of your game, which is a missed opportunity.

Inquisition, on the other hand, while still having an action-focused combat system, allows you to fully control your party members, as well as wear any armor you want that lets you customize the whole body. There are also lots of choices when leading the inquisition at the war table, sending spies and soldiers out to accomplish specific tasks in order to bolster your faction and unlock new things for your Keep.

With the keep, it feels like you are slowly building an army to help you with your cause, and this is reflected in your hub. With the Lighthouse in Veilguard, it feels very empty, and nothing in the story really changes anything within it, even going so far as to have a “caretaker” spirit character, which feels like a cop-out for anything that the Lighthouse may need, rather than delegating this to other unique characters.

2

Romance – Inquisition

Bioware games are known for having an emphasis on romance, both in the Mass Effect and Dragon Age series. The romance storylines and mechanics in Inquisition live up to the developers’ history, while the Veilguard romances, while not awful, feel like a downgrade, with some being outright bad.

Part of this is due to the difference in lengths of the games. In Veilguard, the game is overall more condensed, so it feels like the romances are a bit sped up more than normal. They are also completely simplified to just picking the heart option in dialogues with whoever you want, and getting their bond up, which is very easy to accomplish with every character.

It feels less like romancing a character, and more like you’re just picking whoever looks the best to you and pressing the right button. Once you have achieved romance with a character, some are cute, while some are very lacking in content or have unsatisfying connections.

In Inquisition, the romances are more varied, you have more limited options based on the character’s preferences, and all feel more satisfying to get through.

1

Verdict – Inquisition

Dragon Age: The Veilguard has a ton of drama surrounding it, and most of it is undeserved. However, the game does unfortunately fail to live up to its predecessor in many categories. After ten years of waiting for the sequel to Inquisition, and the next entry in the series, it is left feeling like it took one step forward and two steps back.

That being said, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is by no means an awful game, and can be quite fun. The games also have things, like companions, that are just as good as each other, and Veilguard exceeds Inquisition in combat and exploration.

However, Dragon Age: Inquisition just feels like a true sequel to Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2, with its story, atmosphere, and RPG elements, while Veilguard missed the mark in many places, and almost feels like a side-quest for the franchise.