*Dragon Age: The Veilguard *is going to be divisive. It already is. When you’ve spent ten years waiting for something with an idea of what it would be in your head, if it’s not that thing, you’re bound to be disappointed. But ultimately, *The Veilguard *is not trying to accomplish the same things *Baldur’s Gate 3 *did. Its focus on action-based systems means we’re probably not going to get the highly reactive, Dungeons & Dragons-esque spells and problem-solving mechanics. But it does mean we’re going to get what looks like a frenetic action RPG that continues the story we’ve been waiting a decade for. That might not be what you wanted from Dragon Age, but that other game exists.
Game journalism is a marketing tool. When pieces come out preemptively defending a product (any product) from some specific criticism, it’s because the company is both confident that those criticisms will be levied, and that they won’t shake out favourably.
That’s it, that’s the whole reasoning.
They know they won’t come out looking in any way comparable in terms of scope, quality, etc, and they’re putting their hands forward through their connections with the press, hoping at least some people will buy this obvious attempt at ass covering and refrain from publicly criticising their product.
I think it’s like 70% that and 30% that all games journalists are also fans (this maybe isn’t true of, say, political journalists) who are always walking an ethical line between saying the truth and geeking out about getting status, access, power and free stuff from these companies. So it also makes them more likely to preemptively defend their golden goose/favorite studios and brands like a kid on a playground, except they might lose kickbacks in the future if they don’t become ardent defenders.
Also, I loved DA:O, and DA2 was OK, I didn’t finish DA:I and I have very very very little interest in this game until I see lots of reviews after its released. Sorry BioWare, but ya basic.