The Dragon Age series has always been about its characters. That’s a line BioWare has repeated more than maybe anything else in the leadup to The Veilguard’s release. It’s good to see the developer so sure of the core of its series, but as the anticipated title’s launch approaches, it’s still not clear how much of that focus on characters could come into conflict with the demands of making a long-awaited blockbuster sequel.
The latest reiteration of the Dragon Age mantra comes in an interview with several members of the development team in Edge magazine.
“Everything in the world, every force, is because of someone,” Dragon Age creative director John Epler told Edge. “The idea is that every group and faction needs to be represented by a person — someone you can relate to. Big political forces are fine as background, but they don’t provide you with those interesting story moments.”
Game director Corrine Busche shared similar statements, along with details that paint a promising picture of how The Veilguard will handle its companions. For instance, companion characters won’t just hang around idly waiting for the protagonist to show up and give them something to fight. Instead, characters who aren’t currently in the party will go about their own business, and players will have the opportunity to join them sometimes, reversing the normal relationship of the main character always being the one to call the shots.
“What’s interesting is that all of the companion arcs do ultimately tie back to the themes of the main critical path,” Busche says, “but they also have their own unique challenges and villains, and take place over the course of many different intimate moments.”
According to Busche, even choosing not to take on these character missions could have consequences, as they’ll still resolve without your input. That’s all part of The Veilguard’s attempt to make its companion characters feel more like individuals with their own goals, rather than tools for the player to use.
But other decisions meant to bring characters to life could be a lot more divisive. Busche says at various times during the game, players will be forced to use certain companion characters, while at other times, some companions will be unavailable while they focus on their own business. That does sound like it will go a long way toward making the companions seem as if they do have their own lives, although it could also conflict with what players want out of a Dragon Age game in the first place. Given how much the series is driven by its characters, players naturally form bonds with their favorites and want to spend time with them. Being separated from your faves for extended periods could just as easily interrupt the relationships that players are trying to form.
The Veilguard could also be at odds with itself when it tries to split the difference between close character interactions and the broader stakes of its story. Dragon Age: Inquisition and the Trespasser DLC set up The Veilguard’s main quest to save the world from destruction. Busche says that the intro to The Veilguard will make the nearly apocalyptic ending of Inquisition “look like a minor inconvenience.”
Opening the game with a massive spectacle doesn’t mean that it won’t later slow down to focus on character interactions, but with the games industry at large increasingly pushing spectacle and scope over the more intimate character moments that players love about other Dragon Age games, it’s hard not to feel some anxiety over whether BioWare will be able to thread the needle. Earlier this year, former BioWare producer Mark Darrah called out the “fidelity death cult” that traps many developers in the pursuit of “hyper-realistic art styles, hyper-high fidelity, hyper-customization, hyper-intricacy” at the expense of all else. It’s one factor that Darrah says is responsible for the extremely long development time of blockbuster games — the 10-year gap between Inquisition and The Veilguard is just one example — but it also takes up a lot of resources that could be used on things like Dragon Age’s much-hyped character interactions.
There’s plenty to be impressed with in what we’ve seen of The Veilguard so far, but it’s hard not to be a bit skeptical about how the series will adapt to a decade’s worth of changes in player expectations and live up to the hype that’s been growing in the meantime. Dragon Age’s change to a more action-oriented style and the need to make everything bigger and better than the sequel will almost certainly make it a hit among some series fans, but I can’t help but worry about what it will have to give up in the process.
