Dragon Age: The Veilguard had so much to dwell as much as. Its predecessor, Dragon Age: Inquisition, launched in 2014 and left the collection on a devastating cliffhanger, a cliffhanger that went unresolved as developer BioWare went by way of 10 years of improvement hell and inside reboots, earlier than finally making its option to a divisive recreation that resembles the legendary releases of the studio’s golden period. However as a lot as The Veilguard could be outlined by its similarities to video games of the previous, so, too, is it notable for its variations. Greater than most likely any sequel BioWare has put out in almost 20 years, The Veilguard makes a calculated try at a clear break from earlier video games in its collection when it comes to alternative and consequence. It helps you to recreate certainly one of your outdated heroes, however solely import three selections, considerably fewer than earlier video games. Inquisition particularly dwarfed this, utilizing a companion app to allow you to painstakingly create a world state formed by a whole lot of earlier selections.
Exploring simply why this resolution to drastically cut back the variety of selections that get imported into The Veilguard relative to earlier video games within the collection is so necessary requires tackling a basic query about what the collection really is. Is it an anthology placing a number of heroes right into a recreation of sizzling potato with the universe’s crises? Or might it study a factor or two from its science fiction sibling Mass Impact, and decide to being a collection constructed on alternative and consequence relatively than feeling burdened by it? Extra so than previous video games, The Veilguard positions the collection to go both method, and its failings are proof that BioWare must decide a method or one other because it strikes on to no matter comes subsequent.
BioWare’s messaging on why it made the decision to shave cross-game connectivity down to a few selections and a personality creator has been spotty, with the workforce claiming they solely imported selections they might meaningfully characterize. The Veilguard offers us a brand new, closely customizable protagonist in Rook, a mercenary recruited by fan-favorite get together member Varric, and it takes place within the northern areas of Thedas, far faraway from the occasions of the earlier Dragon Ages. Inside these parameters, which really feel tailor-made to provide BioWare some freedom to depart outdated selections behind, continuity is certainly one of The Veilguard’s greatest shortcomings. Even in a recreation as divisive as this one, I’ve but to listen to anybody happy with how The Veilguard handles continuity. Positive, the sport’s foremost story brings collectively years of unfastened threads in a method that I discovered passable. It was when it inadequately acknowledged or outright ignored my earlier presence on this universe that the cracks began to point out.
The Inquisitor, the protagonist of Dragon Age: Inquisition, makes an look in The Veilguard as a pre-defined character whose dialogue modifications ever so barely relying on the three selections you import. Total, we nonetheless get a flattened model of that character, one who arguably ought to have been the protagonist preventing towards Solas, the ex-party member turned antagonist. I performed my Inquisitor as a resentful atheist dragged right into a holy battle, however the man who bears his title in The Veilguard solely resembles him in voice, not beliefs. In a vacuum, I don’t blame BioWare for not having the ability to match the very specific story I wrote in my head with a pre-defined character. However that drawback might have been solved if I had been controlling him this time round.
The Veilguard solely imports three selections, nevertheless it doesn’t really feel absolutely disconnected from video games of the previous. A variety of its narrative comes from worldbuilding we’ve watched unfold over 15 years. A number of characters like Dragon Age: Origins’ Witch of the Wilds Morrigan, Dragon Age II’s storyteller Varric, and Inquisition’s Tevinter pariah Dorian make appearances all through the sport in roles of various significance. BioWare fastidiously writes across the specifics of what you might need completed in earlier video games so every of those get together members might have feasibly ended up the place they’ve no matter what you’ve completed. The dealing with of Dragon Age II’s Isabela is extra questionable, as dialogue in The Veilguard closely implies she was recruited through the second recreation, although it’s attainable to play II with out her in your get together for those who don’t truly get round to asking her to hitch. It is a very particular situation that few gamers most likely ever noticed, nevertheless it’s an instance of how, at the same time as BioWare tries to be respectful of previous selections (largely by not bringing most of them up), some paths are certain to slide by way of the cracks.
Admittedly that is the form of nitpicking that solely the sickest of sickos like me might ever have interaction in as a result of we’re the one ones who even discover, nevertheless it’s the entice BioWare has set for itself. Establishing alternative, consequence, and carryover as a pillar of your studio’s ethos signifies that followers can spend years imagining what their choices would possibly imply sooner or later, just for the truth to not match the theories which have been spreading by way of the group as what appeared like large selections find yourself being a mere footnote within the grand scheme of issues. A number of the greatest selections in earlier video games ended up funneling to the identical consequence, and folks had been inevitably upset to see that magnified tenfold in The Veilguard’s restricted import.
It’s clear that BioWare has aspirations that always get progressively chipped away all through improvement as time and assets limit what’s attainable. Followers have datamined Veilguard information that indicate some choices that weren’t imported had been meant to be at one level in manufacturing, and there’s an artwork ebook filled with references to selections and penalties that by no means made it into the ultimate recreation. Ex-Dragon Age author David Gaider has been dropping bombs on Bluesky concerning the logistics of recognizing completely different choices in sequels. The precise, life like prospects of reactivity in these video games will seemingly by no means match the expectations. Having existed in on-line BioWare areas for over a decade, I do know a number of followers need a diverging foremost plot in response to their choices, however that’s usually not possible given the finances and time constraints of AAA video games.
That’s the promise we think about after we speak about alternative and consequence, proper? Video games like Dragon Age: The Veilguard might be, in an ideal world, digital choose-your-own-adventure books or tabletop video games that react to each little factor we do with an infinite variety of outcomes and branching paths. But when that isn’t possible, what is affordable to count on? Mass Impact, regardless of its issues and a few obtrusive exceptions, was capable of ship on some main selections by the point Mass Impact 3 rolled round because of its fastened perspective of protagonist Commander Shepard. Dragon Age has pulled off beautiful moments just like the Right here Lies the Abyss questline, however none of these change the core plot. Maybe some disappointment over that is on followers for not having extra measured hopes, however I can’t assist however really feel like Dragon Age is basically ill-equipped to ship the selection and consequence that BioWare’s pedigree has conditioned individuals to count on.
Dragon Age is, ostensibly, an anthology. It jumps all over the world of Thedas and, with every new entry, offers us a brand new protagonist to inhabit and a unique drawback to resolve. In the meantime, it additionally imports selections from earlier video games because it teleports us to the opposite aspect of the universe. Dragon Age has at all times needed to have its cake and eat it too. The tales it tells are so instantly tied to the individuals at their heart that the protagonist swap that happens with every new recreation has at all times felt like an arbitrary alternative, not one that really serves the tales it’s telling. The Veilguard’s flattening of the Inquisitor was essentially the most damning instance, however Inquisition’s transition from Dragon Age II’s Hawke to the Inquisitor was hardly seamless. Corypheus, the antagonist of Inquisition, debuted in Dragon Age II’s Legacy DLC and was instantly tied to the household lineage of Hawke. When the Champion of Kirkwall appeared in Inquisition as a customizable NPC, they had been equally flattened and in addition unwilling to stay round to resolve the issue they’d began within the earlier recreation. When the heroes we embody are so shortly discarded, even after they have deep private ties to what’s happening, is it so stunning that the trivialities additionally falls down the chasm with them?
Now that The Veilguard has solely imported three selections, none of which acknowledge the specifics of the bigger world, it’s attention-grabbing to have a look at the sport and understand that a number of its huge choices really feel extra insular than these in earlier video games, like they may not have to be imported into the following one. Broadly, the primary plot of stopping the elven gods doesn’t change it doesn’t matter what you do, and even the ultimate alternative is extra about deciding the flavour with which the identical closing occasion occurs. A lot of the variables you possibly can alter occur inside the story of The Veilguard, relatively than the story of Dragon Age writ giant. That isn’t to say the sport isn’t gesturing towards the longer term; it’s simply that there are fewer selections that really feel like they’re being placed on a shelf to be examined later, at the same time as the sport primarily wraps up a lot of the lingering lore threads of the previous and paves the way in which for a brand new battle.
All that being stated, the ultimate picture we see in The Veilguard is a Marvel-esque tease indicating that the titular group “stays vigilant.” BioWare has already confirmed that it has no DLC plans for the sport because it shifts focus to the fifth Mass Impact, so no matter comes subsequent, it seems like the get together goes to play some half within the subsequent recreation. And after seeing the way in which The Veilguard dealt with the Inquisitor, I don’t need the identical destiny to befall Rook, with them changed into one other flattened model of a earlier Dragon Age protagonist. If The Veilguard primarily wipes the slate clear, BioWare has the chance to go certainly one of two methods: doubling down on the anthology format that hasn’t labored for the collection and progressively making alternative and consequence a smaller pillar of its identification, or making an attempt one thing extra targeted that doesn’t have to attract from each aspect of the universe however can higher characterize participant alternative.
This has been my 1600-word lead-up to my actual level: Rook ought to be the protagonist of the following Dragon Age recreation. Lots of The Veilguard’s huge choices really feel so tied to them, their relationships, and their experiences as a mercenary dragged right into a management position, that they really feel primed to function the face of the franchise shifting ahead. They’ve discovered alliances throughout all of northern Thedas, have storylines that don’t appear tied up but, and their arc in The Veilguard appears destined for extra tales. Simply because Dragon Age has handed off outdated conflicts to new heroes with every new recreation up to now doesn’t imply it has to maintain doing so. If BioWare desires a contemporary begin, it’s the right time to strive one thing new.
Dragon Age’s greatest drawback with continuity was by no means that carrying selections over in a significant method was unimaginable, it was that its fixed growth in scope and fixed shifting perspective made it tougher to craft tales that satisfactorily mirrored the alternatives made. The Veilguard can function a brand new starting. Letting it perform as a form of narrative start line from which to department out, together with letting Rook present a constant perspective by way of which we will expertise the chapter or chapters to return, all approached with extra forethought than we’ve seen the collection show up to now, could be one of the best use of this recreation’s potential.
If we’re shedding the outdated to make method for one thing new, it’s price inspecting the shortcomings of the previous. I don’t know what BioWare has deliberate for the following Dragon Age, however I’d like to see the studio take a leap of religion with a hero who hasn’t been sanded down into an NPC but. Dragon Age has had a number of probabilities to search out its personal Commander Shepard. The most effective time to do it could have been when the Inquisitor was within the highlight ten years in the past. The following finest time is correct now. Rook spends all of The Veilguard studying to be a frontrunner, and now that the coaching wheels are off, perhaps it’s time to let one particular person steer the ship.
