By being revealed at the last Xbox Games Showcase, Dragon Age: The Veilguard made as many people happy as some disappointed. Recently, the developers also announced a special feature concerning a feature appreciated by players, and the latter is already causing debate. One of the creators of the saga has also spoken out on this subject.
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A new feature is coming to the next Dragon Age
Whether you’re a Dragon Age fan or not, you may remember the trailer for Dragon Age : The Veilguard (available in our automatic player) unveiled by BioWare during the last Xbox Games Showcase. In addition to changing its name, this new game will also feature a drastically different artistic direction what the players were used to. Indeed, the atmosphere should be much more humorous and colorful than the Dark Fantasy of the first opuses. A change which may have disappointed early fans, but which also allowed the license to renew itself in an attempt to reach a new audience. Although it is still too early to know if this bet will be a winner, the developers have still followed up with a large gameplay video (available below) as well as some information on the game’s features.
Among the features most appreciated by role-playing game fans, we of course find the possibility of forming a couple with certain secondary characters. This is possible in Baldur’s Gate III or Cyberpunk 2077, for example, but also in BioWare’s most iconic games like the first Dragon Age or Mass Effect, to name a few. Generally, it is only possible to form a romantic (or sexual) relationship with certain specific companions, but some games still allow this possibility to be extended to all companions. This will be the case for example in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, a first in the entire series.
While Dragon Age players were previously accustomed to only being able to form relationships with certain companions, the developers of Dragon Age: The Veilguard have confirmed that it will be possible to do this with all the companions in the game. As such, as is often the case in this type of case, all the characters concerned will be pansexual since they will be able to have a relationship with the player-character whatever their gender. But where The Veilguard brings a little novelty is that companions will also be able to have relationships with each other, always without distinction of gender. As such, the pansexuality of secondary characters therefore becomes effective, where other games often contented themselves with “playersexuality”. While many players will surely be happy with this information, this is not the case for one of the creators of the Dragon Age franchise.
One of the creators of Dragon Age doesn’t see it very favorably
Generally speaking, the mere mention of a sexual preference other than heterosexuality tends to cause debate in the gaming community. However, in the case of role-playing games, LGBT characters have always been legion. As we said above, being able to form a couple with secondary characters is not new in this style of game, regardless of the gender of the characters in question. So when David Gaider (one of the original creators of Dragon Age and the lead writer of the first three games, who no longer works at BioWare since 2016) is speaking out to express a small disagreement with the new feature of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, rest assured that this has nothing to do with any anti-wokism. According to him, allowing the player to be able to have a relationship with ALL companions is a mistake for a purely narrative reason:
Hmm. I guess the decision to make “all companions can form a relationship with everyone” in Dragon Age: The Veilguard isn’t a big surprise, considering Baldur’s Gate 3, but – unsurprisingly – I I have some opinions:
Firstly, the fandom is pretty divided when it comes to romances. A huge portion want to be able to date all the characters they want, and NOT being able to do that is a slap in the face. Others prefer to see characters with more personality, even (or even especially) if it doesn’t align with their preferences.
Neither side is bad, honestly. It just depends on what you want in your game. We’re not all here for the same reasons, ok? The only small problem, in my experience, is that these two approaches are diametrically opposed from a narrative point of view.
The Dragon Age writing team realized, after a while, that as soon as you allow a romance to be established with a character, you limit the type of character they can be and the stories he can tell. They become hung up on their romantic arc and their need to somehow be attractive.
Why is this a constraint? Because not all character story arcs are defined by being appealing to the player. Even if a romantic arc is made for a relatively narrow audience, the need to be appealing necessarily limits the potential stories that can be told.
This is why the Dragon Age team, after a discussion during the development of Dragon Age: Inquisition, ultimately decided to make Varric a character with whom one cannot have a romantic relationship. I can already hear fans groaning in disappointment, even though it was done so as not to destroy Varric’s character. I’m afraid we can’t have both.
I find it curious to characterize The Veilguard’s approach as new. The only difference with Dragon Age 2, after all, is that not every companion in D2 could be romanceable. Those who could were pansexual. Besides, we had the same debate and argued that they were not “playersexual”.
The decision to backtrack on Dragon Age Inquisition was mine, and was made with Mike and the support of the team. I didn’t like what it did to our companions’ personalities. It turned them into sex dolls whose sole purpose was to mate with the player so they could say “now kiss!”
But I admit, this is a personal (and uncharitable) preference. I also didn’t like what it did to Baldur’s Gate 3. Several characters would have had a better story arc without the possibility of romance, and the feeling I got of this whole team being able to abandon me if I blinked the wrong eye… meh.
So while I don’t particularly like this change for Dragon Age: The Veilguard, if they go for it like Baldur’s Gate 3 did, it should be fine. This is a completely valid approach, as I said, and many fans will be very happy with this feature.
Which, ultimately, is not a bad thing.
In summary, David Gaider believes that as long as a character can have a relationship with the player (or here, with other secondary characters), this greatly limits the possibilities in terms of character construction and story to tell. Indeed, enabling a romantic relationship must be integrated into a character’s personality, goals, and motivations, and this is not always compatible with all stories. Although this feature is very popular with players and many would like to be able to establish a relationship with all the characters, Gaider thinks that limiting it to certain specific companions is a good thing to avoid ruining the narrative arcs of other characters. However, since David Gaider has no longer worked at BioWare since 2016, his opinion is of course only advisory. So there’s a good chance that Dragon Age: The Veilguard won’t turn back, especially so close to release. Players who like to be able to hang out with everyone in their role-playing games will therefore be reassured. As a reminder, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is expected to be released at the end of 2024 on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series.
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