Dragon Age: The Veilguard

After many years of waiting, nine years since the last DLC of Dragon Age: Inquisition, and after teasing fans with an abundance of environment stills (so many artworks of trees), BioWare in the last week have finally dropped so much news in regards to the next instalment of the Dragon Age series. As a huge fan of the franchise (and as my brother once said to me, someone has to be), the phrase to describe this week would be emotional whiplash. To have nothing for so long, it almost feels as though we now have too much – I’m not mad about it though. Well, that’s a lie, I’m mad about some of it.

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From Dreadwolf to The Veilguard

Image by BioWare

One of the first big changes that was announced was the sudden amendment in the official game title. Moving from the foreboding Dreadwolf, a title that was decided many years ago, with a lot of the early marketing focusing on the big villain reveal at the end of the Trespasser DLC, to The Veilguard, about a week before showcasing their gameplay, was a surprising choice from the developers. While they released a blog that detailed their decision making, it still rang alarm bells for fans, especially with the gameplay announcement coming at the same time. 

I understand their reasoning – while Dreadwolf was a great name, it does set a precedent that it will be focused more on the villain instead on the player’s character. It would be like if they named it Dragon Age: Archdemon instead of Origins. It focuses more on the creature you’re hunting rather than the origins of the universe itself. It’s the same kind of logic in this instance too, especially since we have found out more about who the player’s character will be. I just really don’t like the new name. Is it petty? Sure. Aside from the general vibe, there really isn’t a reason to dislike it. It just doesn’t flow as well as the original title. 

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First Official Trailer

Image by BioWare

A few days after the release that the title had changed, BioWare dropped the first official trailer for The Veilguard on Day 3 of Summerfest, and oh my, do a lot of people have a lot of thoughts about it. 

The main concern seemed to be the style of the trailer, and if this was indicative of how the game will look, with a lot of comparisons being made to games such as Fortnite and Valorant, which I completely get. The first message I sent to the Nerdy Nook team about this trailer was ‘why does this look like a mobile game’. Sure, it’s been nearly a decade since the last game dropped and just like the times, graphics can change a lot in that period. However, if the general consensus is ‘are we sure this is advertising the right game?’, then maybe this really wasn’t the best trailer to put out there into the world. 

Yet, if nothing else, this is consistent for BioWare. They can create some astonishing games, with Mass Effect 2 often being credited as one of the best video games ever released, and their trailers will still not accurately reflect what the game actually is. With this knowledge, a lot of people saved their reservations for the first official gameplay, instead of instantly writing the series off entirely. 

Even watching the trailer, I didn’t feel a huge wave of pessimism as many others did. I agreed it didn’t look the best, but honestly, it was cool to see the companions that will accompany your character’s journey through the next saga, with one being a returning face from Inquisition. Scout Harding was a fan favourite from the last game, a character that was probably just a step up from NPC as you could at least flirt with her in your limited interactions together, and now as she becomes a fully-fledged main character, along with the news every companion in this game will be romanceable, I know there’s many fans punching the air in victory right now. 

Not only that, there are a few returning faces from other sources of Dragon Age media, which I think diehard fans of the series will appreciate, but it doesn’t necessarily hinder you if you haven’t consumed anything beyond the games themselves. One of the good things about this franchise is that often if you’re fairly new to it, you can jump in from the newest game – it often won’t stop you from understanding the events that are taking place. While each previous game has an influence on the next in some way, they are often standalone stories. I will say though, if you’re thinking of jumping in from The Veilguard, at least reading up on the events of the last game and its final DLC will be beneficial for you. 

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Gameplay Reveal 

Image by BioWare

On June 11th, we finally got a look at the official gameplay for The Veilguard, and while I think there are potential issues on the horizon, I don’t think they’re so bad that it will stop me from playing the game entirely – to be honest, it would have to be abhorrent to stop me from playing, but I digress. The main character of the new instalment is a character called Rook, who is customisable in so many ways, so it’s not as limited as Hawke in Dragon Age 2. 

First of all, just before it all began, an absolutely beautiful piece of music was leading the audience through the countdown to the gameplay. It was ominous, but still haunting. There’s a rumour that Hans Zimmer has something to do with the score this time around, at least one song may be credited to him, however I’m not sure how substantiated that actually is, so take that with a pinch of salt. 

The look of the game is also vastly different to the trailer that was shown initially. The environments are stunning, with seemingly even miniscule details being taken into account – things that maybe the casual gamer wouldn’t pay attention to, such as an outstanding use of ray tracing to create the reflections on the ground, but things that ultimately create a rich background. While the cutscenes still unfortunately have that early trailer look, it’s not as bad as it was, and honestly, I think it’s a look that could grow on me. Also, it looks like NPCs have some great hair choices, and hopefully this means that Rook has great hair choices too (this may seem minor, but if you played Inquisition, you know where I’m coming from with this). 

The actual combat seems to flow quite nicely – you can either be a rogue, warrior or mage, and so the combat itself will probably change depending on that choice (I am a sucker for a mage, as I enjoy personal space away from everyone). The example Rook for the purpose of this gameplay was a rogue, and there was a moment where they seemed to switch from one kind of weapon to another pretty quickly, which I thought was quite interesting in itself. Before, it seemed to be you’d choose your specialisation and you would focus on those skills, but it might be that this time, you decide based on the background you chose at the beginning, which hopefully has an influence on you in some way. From what was shown, there doesn’t seem to be a tactical view as previous instalments have had, which is a surprise, but it may just be they didn’t show it. 

The biggest thing I struggled with was the voice acting, which is a momentous flaw for the game to have. Now, I’m not going to sit here and say that Dragon Age has been an exemplary example of voice acting, though it does have some shining moments. Claudia Black as Morrigan has defined the game itself, as has Kate Mulgrew as Flemeth. Brian Bloom’s performance as Varric, the roguish dwarf who guides Rook through the beginning playthrough, has become just as synonymous with the game. There were just a couple of moments that didn’t connect with what was happening in the game, the emotions not matching up with what was happening on screen. To have someone tell you to kill a demon quickly with absolutely no urgency or fear in their voice doesn’t really push you to kill it. 

I’m excited to have the dialogue wheel from Dragon Age 2 back in action though – while the game had its flaws (being restricted to one city and the beach outside the city really hurt it in my opinion), the characters in the game were eventually well beloved, especially the main character, Hawke. You could craft the personality that suited the character without any dialogue choices accidentally hurting anyone’s feelings as it so often did in Inquisition. 

The developers have also shared that in the character creation process, ‘you’ll be able to customise your Inquisitor from the last game, and make some key decisions that impact how the game begins.’ A small comment dropped in the YouTube chat before the premiere of the gameplay, that has huge implications for the game itself, and to be honest, I’m excited to see what they mean by this. It may be the first time that it will feel like a direct continuation of the series, rather than ‘oh yeah, the beginning of Dragon Age 2 happened around the same time as Origins, that’s kind of neat.’

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Conclusion

While I do think the marketing of this game has been flawed, and the trailer almost ruined the excitement for a lot of people, I do think there’s a lot of reasons to remain excited about The Veilguard as we head towards its release in the autumn of this year. BioWare and the developers of the game seem keener than they have been in the past ten years to share as much information as possible to keep fans enthusiastic, and I think the gameplay definitely helped. There are so many reasons to get hyped for the game’s release, and I really hope that playing it will be as good as watching someone else play it. 

Has it had its own developer hell moments? Absolutely. From it though, it seems to be getting back to some of its roots, maintaining the single-player game rather than forcing any microtransactions down its audience throats as EA may have wanted them to, while also creating something different for newer fans. While many wish they would stick to the Origins formula, it unfortunately doesn’t work that way, and sometimes, change is necessary. 

But I will always really hate that they changed the name. Sorry BioWare.

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