The latest gameplay videos of Dragon Age: The Veilguard have me thinking I should play a different class than a mage for this one time

IGN's "22 Minutes Of Gameplay With BioWare", a recent video, made me notice three things. The first was that BioWare is still not very good at lip-syncing, and the second was that the qunari Rook's forehead looks so smooth that it's as if the texture hasn’t been loaded. The third and most shocking thing was that it made me not want to play a mage.

The mage origin in Dragon Age: Origins was my favorite, and playing as a mage in Dragon Age 2 felt like I was at the center of the conflict between the templars that was the plot of the game. Dragon Age: Inquisition's first act was similar. Also, the staff-twirling attack looked cool.

The teleporting mage in the Veilguard footage is certainly more mobile. But watching the smooth-headed wizard launch ineffective beams and glowing energy balls then wait for mana slowly to recharge didn't really convince me to stick with my favorite Dragon Age character.

The video that accompanied a recent blog post about progression mechanics, on the other hand, seems to be a lot more entertaining. It shows a rogue specializing as a duelist, in one of the skill tree's that are themed around constellations. The other options are veil ranger and saboteur, but the duelist is a blast. He can switch between a dual-wielding sword and a bow to make ranged attacks, and he can also power-up the poison that causes necrotic injury. Heck, even the basic warrior dodge roll and kick looks solid.

Combat is a major part of The Veilguard. A walk through the Fade, to get to a quest companion, was interrupted by several fights with darkspawn. While the series has tended towards a focus on magic, making other character classes feel a little secondary, I would rather have fun than spend several dozen hours detonating combinations on hurlocks. It's time to play a rogue then, I suppose?

Dragon Age: Veilguard is due out on October 31, 2018.