Dragon Age The Veilguard is make-or-break for Bioware (feat. MrMattyPlays) | Friends Per Second #54
Plus, Dead Rising Deluxe Remastered, ARA: History Untold, and competitive table setting
Greetings Users!
Another packed show for your fine eyes and ears. We’re joined by MrMattyPlays and Austin to talk about their hands-on time with Dragon Age: The Veilguard. It’s a first-time guest spot for both and we were thrilled to have them on (and very eager to get them back!). Jake and Ralph chat to members of the ARA: History Untold dev team all about the upcoming strategy game, which you might remember Jake enjoyed seeing at Gamescom.
As usual we’ve had some excellent listener questions, so we discuss what makes a gamer “hardcore”, the PS5 Pro’s eye-watering price, and what the future of consoles could look like. Our prediction: probably very expensive. All that plus what we’ve been playing, show and tell, and some solid bants.
On with the episode!
Games mentioned: Concord, Army of Two: The Devil’s Cartel, Devil’s Third, Dragon Age: The Veilguard, ARA: History Untold, PS5 Pro,
Misc. mentions: An $8,000 Trent Reznor sweatband, a shout out to the audio tech users, Fyre Festival, PAX, Patrice Coffee (thank you again!)
User question #1 - PixelCronicas
Do you foresee a future where gaming consoles will stop releasing every few years or do you have a more optimistic view?
PlayStation’s co-CEO insists consoles will remain the core of its business - VGC
Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth: PS5 Pro vs PS5 - A Vast Improvement At 60FPS - Digital Foundry
We don’t know about you, but we can’t even think about a PS6 or a Next Xbox right now, not when mid-cycle refreshes are abound and we’re still waiting on fresh first party titles to play. But with PlayStation and Xbox both confirming that there are new consoles coming (eventually) and with the Switch 2 on the horizon, we discuss what the future of the console space could look like. Also, geez, sorry to Australia for those PS5 Pro prices.
Games mentioned: Concord, Ratchet and Clank: Rift Apart, The Last of Us, Monster Hunter Wilds, PalWorld, Balatro, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Space Marine 2, Case of the Golden Idol, Immortals of Aveum,
Misc mentions: JB Hi-Fi, girl math, Harrison Ford, the iPhone 16, Google Pixel, Unreal Engine, Billie Eilish, Taylor Swift, fixing a VCR
Dragon Age: The Veilguard Impressions with Austin and MrMattyPlays
It’s been ten long years since Dragon Age Inquisition, and it doesn’t feel real that Dragon Age: The Veilguard is just on the horizon. EA recently held a hands-on event where attendees got to play six or so hours of the game from the very beginning. So who better to chat about how it’s shaping up than Austin (Twitter, latest vid on the SkillUp channel) and MrMattyPlays (Twitter, YouTube).
I (Lucy) would also like to extend sincere apologies to Ralph for calling him a Dragon Age hater. I regret the error.
Games mentioned: Dragon Age Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Baldur’s Gate 3, Outer Wilds, Mass Effect 3, Skyrim, God of War (2018), Anthem, Jade Empire, Guardians of the Galaxy, Mass Effect 2, World of Warcraft, Predecessor, Smite
Misc. mentions: The Lord of the Rings, Retro Rebound, Captain America, Iron Man
If you’ve got burning questions you’d like us to answer on the show, email us or drop them in the comments below!
User question #2 - Jeff Young
How would you all define what makes someone a "casual gamer" VS a "hardcore gamer"?
This was a very fun question that we try to comprehensively answer from multiple angles, including inventing a kind of graph, psychological profiling, and then by pure vibes. I don’t think we fully nailed it, but if you have any better ideas, please leave them in the comments.
Games mentioned: Call of Duty, FIFA, Fortnite, Roblox, Minecraft, Rainbow Six Siege, League of Legends, DOTA, Marvel’s Spider-Man, Jetpack Joyride, Disco Elysium
Misc. mentions: Dead Poets Society, film lover Jordan Middler, The Lord of the Rings (again)
Interview with ARA: History Untold team: Executive Producer Matt Turnbull and Narrative and Experience Lead Gabriela Leskur
Apologies that the audio is a little wonky in this section folks, unfortunately Matt’s internet was struggling during recording, so it might sound funky at times. It does improve as the interview goes on, and it gave us a fun bit where Jake sang Daft Punk.
Games mentioned: Civilization
What we’ve been playing
We’re preparing for release season: drinking our water, doing our stretches, and meal prepping a bunch of things you can shove in the microwave while a cutscene plays. While it’s a little light on games we’ve been playing in this episode, just you wait until next time (sorry to be a tease).
Ralph is still in love with Space Marine 2 and has forsaken all else
Jake has been playing Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster and is making the tough calls in Frostpunk 2
Lucy has upgraded to a MetaQuest 3 and is using all the spiffy new tech to… just play more Beat Saber
Games mentioned: Star Wars Outlaws, Diablo IV, Destiny, Space Marine, Metaphor: ReFantazio, Beat Saber, Batman Arkham Shadow, The Last of Us, Iron Man, Rocksteady’s Arkham Games, Batman Arkham Origins, Asgard’s Wrath, Supernatural, Dead Space, Frostpunk
Misc. mentions: MetaQuest 3, Joker 2, HTC Vive, Game of Thrones
Show and tell
Ralph is fully in his tennis era
Jake watched Rebel Ridge on Netflix
Lucy watched Set!, a documentary about competitive table setting. Yes, you read that right
Games mentioned: Genshin Impact, Rainbo09112aQ (Jellybean tried to help me type), Rainbow Six Siege, Control
Misc. mentions: Captain America 2023, Rambo First Blood, Miami Vice, Green Room, Slow Horses, Goosebumps, Spider-Man, We Are The Champions
As always, thanks for reading! Catch ya next time <3 L
Неу!
I was curious if when you were kids if there was ever a video game character that you tried to base your personality off of? To this day I still try to act as cool as Leon Kennedy. Love the show and have been listening since the beginning! Thanks!!
User Q.
Hi team, big fan of the podcast. As a Dad gamer I find myself increasingly time poor and unable to sink countless hours into games anymore.
One of my biggest gripes in games is the inability to save where I want so I can pick up where I left off (e.g. bonfires in dark souls or meditation rings in Jedi survivor). I feel like this walls off certain games I'm interested in since I don't have time to play them up until certain checkpoints.
Great game examples include Baldur's gate 3 and Hades which allow for fluid saving.
This leads me to my question, are there any accessibly options you would like to see applied to a wider array of games? And why?