Summary
BioWarehas been ramping up marketing forDragon Age: The Veilguard, and as a result, we’re starting to get a clearer picture of everything the game entails, including characters, gameplay and dialogue.
IGN and BioWare recently released22-minute footagefrom Dragon Age: The Veilguard, showing more of the hub area The Lighthouse as well as some interactions between Rook and their companions.
A point of criticism that has arisen surrounds The Veilguard’s facial animations. AReddit threadwas created about the topic, with some fans pointing out that the game’s facial animations are dated and aren’t at the standard of modern triple-A games.
Fans Don’t Love Dragon Age’s Facial Animations
“I admit I’m a bit disappointed,” one comment reads. “When I saw them using motion capture, I had hoped they’d somewhat improved on that front.”
“I think it might just be something they never learned how to do with Frostbite. It’s definitely disappointing, those facial animations with Davrin are completely mediocre. After games like Cyberpunk 2077 and Baldur’s Gate 3, this looks a gen behind,” another says.
This isn’t BioWare’s first battle with facial animations; Mass Effect Andromeda was infamous for its stiff characters.Anthem, for all of its flaws, was never really criticised for its animations, prompting one player to look back on it fondly in comparison to The Veilguard.
“Yeah, I don’t understand how it’s still no better / maybe worse than Anthem and that was OK at best 5 years ago,” the comment reads.
While the facial animations of Dragon Age: The Veilguard aren’t bad by any means, you could certainly say they’re lagging behind other big releases of the day. EA’s proprietary Frostbite engine is primarily used for face scans for sports simulators like EA Sports FC and Madden and may not be quite as equipped for full-scale performance capture as we saw in titles like Baldur’s Gate 3.
A lot of fans won’t care as the animations aren’t any worse than those in Dragon Age: Inquisition, though it’s still notable. We’ll get a full picture when Dragon Age: The Veilguard releases on October 31.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
WHERE TO PLAY
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the long-awaited fourth game in the fantasy RPG series from BioWare formerly known as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. A direct sequel to Inquisition, it focuses on red lyrium and Solas, the aforementioned Dread Wolf.
