WelchyTV

Of course! Although I’m still undecided if I should try and get the kids to support them or not as I don’t think they deserve to go through the constant disappointments and heartbreak year after year 🤣
 
Although maybe that builds character? 🤔

I actually really enjoyed the campaign on this COD! I thought quite a few of the levels were brilliant!

So, I have spent some time with this game now. I am definately on the side of it being a half decent game. I am not going into the is it or is it not a failure conversation again, just givnig you guys a brief run through of my thoughts
 
- Visually it is quite a stunning game in places, I have put some early in game screenshots into the screenshots thread. The art style of the characters isn't quite my cup of tea and the Qunari characters you meet are a bit odd. There are also some on the other 'team' that look more how you would expect them to if you are a fan of the series.
- The story & writing, it starts off medicore however the past couple of hours I have been playing and where I hit what I imagine is the halfway point it is getting much better. The characters are really quite good and engaging and I really like most of the companions.
- Combat is not what I have enjoyed with past Dragon age games however it is quite fun and engaging. Quite fast paced but some of the bosses can be quite the challenge compared to the normal mobs. Creatures that were considered tough in previous games are somewhat weak here but that is because the big bads are at a level above. It is a combat system very much geared towards a wider audience.
- The world building is quite good and there are moments where characters speak lines and such reminscent of old school dragon age. And some of the places you visit are brilliant, I think Treviso is fantastic running through the rooftops.
 
General thought, the start of the game is not the strongest, it improves as it goes on but that is never a good thing with any game as it can often result in you losing players before the game really gets going. Only one decision so far seem's to have impacted things, generally your conversation decisions don't make much difference other than altering the opions your companions have of you, it is reminisicent of the Mass Effect games so I wonder if their opinion of you dictates if they live or die at the end of the game or something.
 
Last night I was actually nodding off on the sofa as I was knackered yesterday but putting on the game and furthering the story at this one point I am at suddenly woke me right up. I won't go too much into it in case anyone here does play it but there is a section of the story where you are involved in a siege of a castle (won't say which side you are on) but it genuinely felt like one. It reminded me a bit of when I first player the lord of the rings two towers was it where you are fighting on top of the castle walls. It was brilliant and then fighting your way through to the boss of this area was great, with everything going on at the same time it led to a feeling of urgency, to get to where you are going before the place was overwhelmed (I am not sure that's even programmed into it but it felt like it).
 
For me it's probably a 7.5 / 10, so not a bad game but not quite reaching the heights I had hoped it would but that's more because of what I have historically enjoyed from the series and really the series is moving away from that in the same way Final Fantasy has done from it's origins in recent years.

Wow that’s an impressive collection!! 
 
I agree they need to improve the online battling and I’m sure they will get it right eventually! 

Packed this Charizard yesterday!

Going second is better. TCG Pocket tried to change the opening mechanic to "Whoever goes first cannot play a supporter card" to "Whoever goes first cannot play an energy." Could be tweaked in the future since this is a PTCGP specific mechanic.  Top deck right now is Pikachu ex, with MewTwo ex right behind it and if you like gambling, Artiuno/Starmie ex.  New set releases in January, with a new promo set in December. Ranked mode will be released in the future. My Friend ID is 8062-8245-8978-6511 .

Absolutely addicted to this myself, battlibg is a pain in the hole against charizard decks I’ve found as people stack the decks with Moltres ex and just use the "flip coin, attach x amounts of energy" crap. Kinda busted. Was enjoying running a Dragonite deck, but got my ass handed to me by Mewtwo and Charizard ex decks so I switched to a Mewtwo deck myself and stacked the living hell out of it 😂
 
 
Best pulls so far, I have more but wont let me upload as file would be too big… That’s what she said. Giggety
 
 

Pokemon TCG Pocket is a polished Pokemon TCG Lite game. Love the idea how they utilize energy (If you are a mono color) and the 20 card deck is great. PVP is all MewTwo ex and Articuno ex but still fun. 

Tarkov and being busy in general have conspired to keep me away from this game.
 
But I have done about half the campaign and it's the best one in years for me.

What determines the 750,000 figure? Is that something you have decided upon as I can't see anything online that states this? As a comparison, Call of Duty, released in a similar timeframe on the same console / pc formats and probably a much larger budget. A game with multiple modes and generally multiplayer games achieve higher audiences in the first place had a peak of 300 thousand since release.... Is that also considered a failure for not achieving 750 thousand concurrent players at any one point? Is this a figure EA themselves have stated must be achieved? Just for something to compare it too, Skyrim has never achieved 750 thousand and is considered one of the most successful RPG's ever, Baldurs Gate 3 did exceed it but also didn't have quite the social media bashing that this game has received up to now. There are so many factors that can influence whether a game is considered a success or a 'catastrophic failure in the same realms as Concord', a big statement to make and I am trying to understand the metrics to it. We also have no idea what sales and numbers are like on console
 
 
No need to go on the attack, I am not saying you can't have an opinion and have never done so. But what I am saying is whether you have first hand experience or whether you have watched video's / social media posts etc that someone where someone has pre-selected footage and such based on their opinion influences what you are saying. An opinion can be influenced, based on past experiences (for example have you played the last games at all? Were you hoping for something more akin to the original 2 games? Did you enjoy Inquisition and wanted more of that? Are you comparing it with Baldurs Gate, probably our most successful recent single player title), based on your personal outlook (and we all know what a happy bloke you are) or can be based on what you want from something. What I want from Dragon Age as a game would be very different from what you would want from it and depending on whose experience the game more closely achieves will influence our opinions of the game. You are entitled to have an opinion but what someone takes from that will be again different for each person depending on the background behind it and it is perfectly valid of me to ask if your opinion is based on social media or from first hand experience 🙂 
 
I have played a number of games that were not received well initially (particularly by social media) and gone on to really enjoy them and in some instances have become popular games such as Days Gone, Hogwarts Legacy & Cyberpunk as recent examples, in fact I think Fallout New Vegas took a bit of a beating for all it's glitches and such early days and most of these weren't ever rectified and can still be found in the game today! 😄 
 
As you have not not played it there are a number of positive things that I probably can't discuss with you because you may even not know they are part of the game and may not have been shown in the videos or posts you have seen -
- Loading times seem minimal as you transition between places through the mirror transports which is really quite cool. The only thing I have seen that even closely resembles that was Ratchet & Clank.
- Combat is really quite good. I generally prefer my turn based combat games, be it JRPG or Western RPG's, I like to take my time and pick my strategies. However the combat is quick, slick and looks fantastic.
- The world building is up there with some of the best, they all look phenomenal, the way the blight has been crafted in certain areas and one of my favorite aspects is the use of mist in some areas. More often than not weather features tend to affect performance but it doesn't here.
- The creation of your character actually impacts the game, most games where you create your protaginist it is typically a visual thing. This is much more like the original Dragon age game if you ever played it in that your decisions at the start impact upon how factions respond to you when you meet them. I have played 2 classes and factions through to Chapter 6 now and they have been somewhat different experiences.
- It's also quite accessible, we live in a gaming world where your souls like games are something a lot of games try to recreate or capture. Tough games that require a fair amount of skill. My first run through of this I set the difficulty to one of the easy one's and it was exactly that. I find with single player games sometimes you just want to take in the world and story of it rather than taking on the challenges it offers.
 
It is not a 10/10 experience by any means but it's also not the 'failure' you are both alluding to. It is probably more a 7/10 game, good ideas, good traits in there but it does have issues. I think James mentions one above which is probably my biggest bugbear, the lip syncing has not been done well at all. However that is something that could be patched. My other somewhat big gripe is the fact that the series started off much in the same vain as the Baldurs Gate games, I loved the original 2 games and for me that's where they should have taken the series and kept budgets smaller to suit, by appealing to a wider audience the game has had to change and evolve and it's just simply not the direction I would have preferred. A note on the writing, it does start off weak admittedly but once you get to the second half of the game it certainly improves, judging by both your comments above it would suggest the snippet of the game you have seen was likely in the first portion of the game which goes back to my point in that generally you would likely form a different opinion playing the game than watching something on social media. You have to also consider most of what is on social media is incomplete, a lot of the content release in the first few days of a games launch is all about getting your content out first which likely means the person has only experienced the first number of hours of the game.

I tend to take internet opinions with a pinch of salt. So much online now is just clickbait for views and clout. And nothing feeds the algorithm more than fear or anger. 
 
But yes, I'd say if they dropped the name Dragon Age and made it clear it was being pitched at a teen audience there probably wouldn't have been so much drama around it. Just call it Veilguard, that's a decent name for a game all by itself.

Now I have had a bit more time with it.
 
The game's not too bad but I think as with a few of the multiplayer games I am playing at the moment they have just been done to death. No matter what way you look at this it is just another COD, much in the same way as fifa is just another fifa each year and as I get older, my gameplay time is reducing at the moment and I want to spend it on better experiences rather than rehashes of yesteryear.
 
I will play this on and off but I am going to limit my gameplay, rather than playing all evening it will be an hour or 2 and then done so I don't burn myself out with it.
 
I have had some great games mind and do frequently come top 3 which is always good with these games, being competitive in what is an environment geared towards a younger, quicker audience!
 
I do like the gameplay, the omni movement I am getting used to and kind of like it, guns are a bit meh. The maps are generally crap though for me, I think there are 2 or 3 I kind of like but on the whole they are crap. Mostly too small or too big which results in often being killed from spawn or running for minutes and finding no one only to get shot by someone sitting in a corner and having to do it again... The football stadium map could have been good but I think that's a prime example of how not to do a COD map for me.
 
Babylon as mentioned above, I don't mind it but it is a clusterf*ck so you have to be in the mood for that.
 
 

Need to rename this game to Call of Babylon. Seems to be the only map I play on.

I have heard positive things about the campaign tbf, have yet to play it myself but things seem to suggest it is one of the better ones for years.

I actually really enjoyed the campaign on this COD! I thought quite a few of the levels were brilliant!

A new mobile Pokemon game based on the trading cards. You collect Pokemon cards and battle them against other people (or solo matches against AI). 
 
It’s like Marvel Snap but for Pokemon. 
 
I’ve been playing it today and have to say it’s a lot of fun and quite addicting! If anyone else is playing or is going to play add me on there, my code is: 7375646786471039
 
I still hate the Nintendo friend code system! 

A new mobile Pokemon game based on the trading cards. You collect Pokemon cards and battle them against other people (or solo matches against AI). 
 
It’s like Marvel Snap but for Pokemon. 
 
I’ve been playing it today and have to say it’s a lot of fun and quite addicting! If anyone else is playing or is going to play add me on there, my code is: 7375646786471039
 
I still hate the Nintendo friend code system! 

I used to play the old TCG online before they ruined it by remaking it, played it in bed before I went to sleep haha, I am gna give this a go

A new mobile Pokemon game based on the trading cards. You collect Pokemon cards and battle them against other people (or solo matches against AI). 
 
It’s like Marvel Snap but for Pokemon. 
 
I’ve been playing it today and have to say it’s a lot of fun and quite addicting! If anyone else is playing or is going to play add me on there, my code is: 7375646786471039
 
I still hate the Nintendo friend code system! 

I actually really enjoyed the campaign on this COD! I thought quite a few of the levels were brilliant!

I actually really enjoyed the campaign on this COD! I thought quite a few of the levels were brilliant!

Ghosts the Multiplayer, worst Cod in the franchise and by a long way. 

Lies. You're sitting on 4 headshots and you know it

Only got the Tanto .22 gold right now (use this gun you bastards. Sick of saying it)
 
Currently working on the XM4 for the wife as that's her gun and will probably go for diamond SMGs afterwards

I've got the first camo for the XM4. 

I only have the controllers and headset that I bought at launch with the PS5! 
 
I’ve been looking recently at purchasing a ‘pro’ controller, however I’m not willing to spend hundreds so I’m looking for a budget one. 
 
I’ve been looking at the 8bitdo Ultimate controller, it’s only £55 and appears to have the Hall effect sticks, back buttons etc. However it seems to only be for Xbox so I’d be stuck with the standard controller for PS5! 
 
So long story short is no I haven’t got any PS5 accessories but would love some recommendations for cheap pro controllers 🤣