Dragon Age: The Veilguard interview: "It was never going to match the DA4 in people's minds"

Robert Purchese: "So where does Dragon Age go from here, and how does BioWare feel about it? As the dust settles, I sit down with two people at the heart of the project - game director Corinne Busche, and series creative director John Epler - for a chat. We talk about the reaction to the game, the making of it, and what, if anything, comes next. Note that there's one major spoiler in here as pertains to the character Varric, and you may consider some other points of conversation slightly spoilery too."

[TheNamelessOne]

"It was never going to feel like Dragon Age"

Fixed it.

[Armaggedon]

"It was never going to feel like Dragon Age for normie/stimulation junkie players that just play games for the spectacle. True ride or die dragon age fans appreciate this game, because lore wise, this is very dragon age."

There you go, truly fixed it. No need to thank me. People really have to let go of origins, it is the only game in the entire series that has that distinct dark fantasy feeling where everything everywhere is bleak at all times. Bioware games always feel different. Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 all have almost completely different tones to them.

[MeteorPanda]

Inq was dark as well.

This game was too safe and on rails

[Alos88]

You fixed his comment about as well as Bioware fixed Veilguard, so good job. :/
I couldn't stand it. Infantalized dialogue, lobotomized puzzles... it's a miracle the combat actually had any teeth at all on the higher difficulties, and that's about as nice a thing I can say about it.

[TL24SS]

You're kidding right? Tell me again what Dragon Age is about? It sure as hell ain't about some dumb woke culture and it sure as hell didn't look like a Fortnite game.

[staticall]

@Armaggedon
«Everyone who dislikes what i like are normie/stimulation junkie». That's a very mature approach. What was, according to you, a «spectacle» in previous Dragon Age games?

«because lore wise, this is very dragon age»
It's not. Where's Morrigan child? Where's Architect? Why does Veilguard ignores most of the world state/choices from DAO/2?

[spoiler]
Why they've retconned everything: fade (everyone is willy-nilly in physical form in the fade like it's nothing), dwarfs and magic/posession, black city, etc. They even retconned freaking Loghain, acting like he was influenced by ̶i̶l̶l̶u̶m̶i̶n̶a̶t̶i̶ executioners all along. And like they were this big bad enemy that existed in the shadows, manipulating the world, how idiotic is that?!
[/spoiler]

I get that you like the game and it's fine (although, i would argue that, again, i'm seeing you under every Dragon Age Veilguard post here, wouldn't you be busy playing the game you love and praise so much, instead of constant bickering here?), whatever floats your boat (or sinks it). But don't lie here, don't call everyone who disagrees with you names and don't gaslight everyone, by making older games sound worse than they actually are. It doesn't make you look good.

[SoloZelot90]

Um. It could have. The whole "it was never going to" is a defeated and loser mentality.

They completely ignored their main audience. That was the problem. Not any other crap you came up with.

And you're entirely wrong and don't get it either so maybe speak on it. Mass effect 1,2, and 3 are extremely similar in tone and feel.

Dragon age 2...heck your sister dies maybe and your mother dies, the king or whoever gets his head rolling and everything turns to shit at the end...you clearly don't know what you're talking about.

[Armaggedon]

@Meteor panda
People were complaining that inquisition was not dark when it launched, now we want to say its dark? Lets pick a lane and stay in it please. On rails? Just… wow.

@Moodie
I see the flaws in the people that apparently see the flaws in the writing. If I am a kid for appreciating a game that is not oozing with corruption and shock value(cyberpunk, and even Bg3 to an extent) then I guess Im a kid. Better a kid than to be okay with miring in corruption.

@Alos88
I takenit you probably werent a fan of the modenrn god of war puzzles either then. At least this game has puzzles, a rare thing in bioware games. And Im sorry you didn’t like the game. I did not like sleep myth wukong of BOTW and tears of the kingdom, so thats just how it is. And yeah, I did fix the comment, because people are okay with the follow tv show adopting ideas that were not featured in the games that inspired them, but dragon age is a little bit less morbid and everyone is up in arms.

@Tl24ss
The game has one dumb character in it, that doesn’t make the whole game about woke culture. This game does not look like fortnite. If this game looks like fortnite, then BG3 does as well.

[glennhkboy]

Mass Effect 1, 2, 3, had somewhat different game mechanic. But the overall story, art design, world view, characters interactions, etc, all stay consistent with one another.

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

Your insane. Please do not speak for TRUE DA fans. You do not speak for us. This is a game identifying as a Dragon Age game but this DAMN SURE ain't one no matter how bad it wants to be one.

[Armaggedon]

@chieflolipolice

I am the true dragon age fan. Lol
Dragon age after origins is about the lore and mysteries. If you dont know that then you arent really that big of a fan. Jackdaw, Darth sahdie lavellan, saria, The kingdom, these are some of the biggest dragon age nerds of all time, and they are all about the story lore and mystery. Somebody that wants to be stimulated by a pretty cutscene when they pick option A over b is not a dragon age fan, they are a traditional rpg fan. Someone that wants a character to quote philosophy when or be edgy with unrealistic writing when something happens, is not a dragon age fan. Difference. Origins is the only one of the 4 games that did not really delve or mess too much with the lore. Definitely not as much as 2 and inquisition.

[Armaggedon]

@staticall

Your missing the point. Alot of these people that talk trash about veilguard, champion other games that they like because it gets their dopamine's firing( I know, as I have been collecting data on all of you for a very long time now). The provocation is a way to get people to think, to be a bit more self-reflective. People keep complaining and placing blame when something isnt the way they want it to be, instead of examining themselves and saying”Gee, maybe if I dont like the game, I should just go play something that does meet my interests, instead of sending a tsunami sized ripple effect wave through the system that literally effects peoples lives.

“Wheres morrigans child, what about the world save states?” Are people so unreasonable that I really have to explain this to them? Do people really expect Bioware to follow through so many possible permutations all the way to veilguard? Then what about the next game? And the next? Each time it compounds on itself. Without EDI or even harbinger on the job, that is alot of crunch your asking from people just trying to get through their jobs. Are they your slaves? Must they do everything just as you say? perhaps my maturity isnt the one you should question. Also, Im not gaslighting anyone, its a lesson in perception. Some of you think ME 1-3 had a consistent tone throughout, where as I do not, and it is vice versa for dragon age 2-veilguard.( Keep in mind Mass effect is my favorite series so) I could go complain about the new zelda games making huge changes to the formula and even the lore. But I know the score. Not every game is for me. It is also immensely interesting how that is one of a dozen examples of a game series that has almost completely terraformed its approach, yet it receives adoration for it. People are amusingly confused creatures.

@solo zealot

Its a defeated mentality for someone who iw willfully lacking in understanding. The game has strong critical standing, even more so than your game of the year candidate sleep myth wukong, so Bioware is not standing from a loser perspective. Despite the tumultuous cycle they endured, they made it through and put out a solid game. They did not ignore their main audience. Dragon age lore nerds are haing a field day right now playing that game. The people that support bioware by buying their collectors edition, books, and merch, and the ones that support them even when they "mess up"... those are the audience. Not people who have been complaining about everything they do at all times, and will drop them to go play Metaphor or some other game on a whim, . And trust me, I know exactly what I am talking about. Mass Effect and dragon age are my favorite games series of all time. You will find my presence on many theory videos and discussions regarding these games. There is an extremely good chance that I have gathered more intel on these games than you have, so be careful. The head rolling king was viscount dumar by the way. And Veilguard has some dark moments as well, though I will not share them for spoiler purposes.

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

And then they wondered why it bombed...

[Yui_Suzumiya]

But officer, I swear she's an 800 year old fox demigod 😁

[LordoftheCritics]

Is this the Eurogamer 10/10 damage control?

[Armaggedon]

I mean they are right. Its virtually impossible to land a project at the right time to appeal to the gaming audience, as they are chaotic and ever shifting in interest. I still remember the criticisms for inquisition. The developers addressed those issues, and now people are saying they liked inquisition better, for the same reasons they criticized it for. Lmao

[Alos88]

It isn't impossible at all, and gamer's tastes aren't changing, they just want good writing and characters, not embarrassing self insert nonsense the devs use to act out fantasies of arguing with their parents (and still somehow managing to come across as the less sympathetic party even in those scenes.)

[SoloZelot90]

I guarantee you that you're misrepresenting people's criticisms. Hard to be more specific since you weren't.

My criticism of inquisition is that choices aren't as great as in previous games and the open world is barren and boring. Fetch quests suck. My criticisms likely haven't changed.

[Armaggedon]

@Alos88

See, I have been gathering intel on gaming audiences for a good long time now. I have observed so many 180s that it has turned me into an owl. Gamers want something specific that is in their head, and if that expectation is not met, then curtains. Peoples tastes are certainly changing, as I am watching technology adapt itself to keep the attention of people who are honestly overstimulated. My friend just a few days ago said, "why am I getting a spiderman 2 tutorial 40 hours into the game on ultimate difficulty?" Things like this exist to compensate for the player base not possessing the attention spans that they used to. Its not all players fault, but thats where the situation stands. And this is just one variable of many that can pinpoint how gamers are indeed changing. If they werent, giant companies and studios that literally gather our intel would not keep "missing the mark". In short: Too many variables to contend with.

@SoloZelot90

And I enjoyed every "fetch quest" why? Because most of them led you to some lore implication, some question of something that you have been told in the games storywise. Those I call normies glance right past that. Same thing with BOTW and Tears of the kingdom. To me, the open world exploration was meaningless because everything I found that was cool was going to break anyway. To true zelda fans like Zeltik, Monster Maze, etc, they licked up every little activity in those games, because they were truly engaged in the lore and the world of zelda. And I like zelda games, just not the new ones. But those guys are on a completely different level in terms of dedication and adoration for the series. Perspective my friend.

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

Your entire comment is the EXACT kinda mindset problem we talk about.

[Armaggedon]

@chiefoflolipolice

Lol . I used to think that at some point honestly , but people have unwittingly helped me to not doubt. 9/10 times I go through this cycle of discussion with people, I end up right in the end. And thats because its the truth. The truth will manifest itself regardless.

[MeteorPanda]

So you doubled down and just made itva overly friendly safe game?

[Noskypeno]

It's ok in doses, not everything has to be some depressing dark game. I don't want a game like Halo that has a theme of hope be mixed with something like Last of us where it just seems like everyone is just waiting for the last person on earth to die. I like both games, but sometimes I like MCU type of humor, speaking of which has existed since at least the early days of Hollywood and was popular in lots of Spielberg movies but somehow it's become a problem since social media made everyone into being a snob and not allow people to enjoy simple feel good stuff.

[MeteorPanda]

Sure, but this entry was a conclusion to the dragon age series, it has been insulting in all lve seen of it.

[MeatyUrologist]

Biggest disappointment of the year imo. Had high hopes as some of the preview gameplay looked good, but the writing and story was laughable and childish and the combat and spongey enemies got boring after like 2 hours. Not a real D.A. fan but it definitely didn't feel like one to me.

[TL24SS]

If they released this game as a non-Dragon Age titled game, it's a decent game for sure.

But it sure as hell ain't Dragon Age, I played and beat it, it's not a bad game at all. It just isn't what we've grown to love as Dragon Age.

[MeatyUrologist]

Kinda disagree. I'm not a DA fan and was just hoping for a solid action RPG. It really has no single standout feature to draw me in or keep me playing. I'd give it like a 5-6 out of 10 but there are so many other games i would rather play (and replay) over it, i will likely never touch it again after 5-6 hours in.

[DankSinatra]

N4G commenter's yet again showing who they are when they use buzz words like woke lmao. Go back to daddy asmongold.

But seriously, everyone on this website seems to think that it's the center of gamings voice when in reality it's such a small echo chamber that doesn't even make up 1% of the gaming community.

[jambola]

literally one other person used that word

but i guess actually responding directly is too hard, might as well keep it away from them to avoid any actual confrontation huh?

[DankSinatra]

Go to any of the stories involving this game and the comments are using the word woke left and right lmao.

[lukasmain]

Majority nearly in every forum don't like it. That's what it seems like. Go to youtube, IGN. Majority don't like the direction it's gone in and it's obvious.

[DankSinatra]

Literally the majority you're speaking of is not even close to the current sales figure of the game itself. People need to realize that the gamong community doesn't exclusively live on internet forums.

[lukasmain]

The sales figures are terrible when you factor in the very long development cycle and the overall budget of the game. It is nowhere near close to making it's money back. They're even too ashamed to release exact sales figures. Rumors state it has on'y barely crack 1 million. That is extrememly terrible for a nexpensive game like this. I wouldn't say it's a flop, but it certainly is not a success. Not even close. They'll never make back their development and marketing budget for this game.

[TheNamelessOne]

I mean, most of the games that people are out there calling games "woke", well, most of them seem to fail financially; with Dragon Age Veilguard looking unlikely to even recoup the cost of development. Not for years, anyway.

So, if what you're saying is correct, the supposed vocal minority seems to be largely dictating gaming at the moment. While the supposed majority don't seem to buy games in the first place.

[DankSinatra]

Most as in 3 or 4 games? Any game that has 5 minutes or more of something that makes someone uncomfortable is deemed woke these days. literally veilguard has 1 mission and less than an hour of focusing on a character who does all the pronoun shit and the whole game is called woke.

Ever hear the term those who yell the loudest?

[TheNamelessOne]

@dank

You also mean (and it's a bit more than 4) games that have released in only the last few months that could be said for this?
And Veilguard's negatives don't sit purely in the woke category. The fact that everything from the tone, to the tactics, to player's agency over how their character reacts to the world, has all been sanitized and highly dumbed down from past entries in the series, or by the standards of most proper RPGs, in general.

"Ever hear the term those who yell the loudest?"

Both sides of the 'woke' argument are pretty damn vocal. Just, you know, only one side actually buys and plays games. The other side just plays social media.

[jambola]

you said yet again, in the comments for this article
you don't get to pretend you were talking about other comment sections

[DankSinatra]

I said "yet again" for "N4g commenters" But I don't expect you to read beyond what you want to see.

[jambola]

yes, you're not responding to what i said, do you have trouble reading
when you respond to an article and say "yet again" it obviously implies it's happening here

[DankSinatra]

You're either backed into a wall and don't want to admit your wrong or stupid at this point. Why would I imply that it's only happening again specifically HERE in this comment section? Especially when I reference N4G commenter's as a whole? If you cant connect those dots then I'll go ahead and say you're stupid.

[jambola]

now you're blatantly lying or can't read
I never said "only" here specifically
I said that your comment implied that it was happening here, which it wasn't
is that too difficult?

[DankSinatra]

So stupid it is.

[MeteorPanda]

Asmon played the game, are you one of these reddit fools who hear what asmon does from others and not him directly?

[DankSinatra]

No, i draw the conclusion that he focused on literally 3 hours of the 50 hour game much like skill up did in his review and made a big deal of it based on personal political views. If any of you who are bitching about the game actually played it, you would know that what most big youtuber/twitch players are crying about makes up not even a third of it.

[jambola]

really? I think Baldurs gate 3 and Withcer 3 were able to match the game people wanted
maybe it's more about the fact that a predatory live service multiplayer game had to be changed to a single player rpg
from a team that has been considered disappointing / dead since 2017
and behind anthem

[anast]

If they knew this then why make a DA game?

[andy85]

Naturally it's an unpopular opinion as it's cool to hate on this game but personally I'm having a great time with it. Loads of content and I'm still not seeing this "awful" writing. It's average. And the voice acting is good. It's certainly a better game than Dragon Age 2 was. It does feel like a generic action rpg at times but I'm enjoying the battles and the upgrade system is good. And a big weapon variety. 7.5-8/10

[andy85]

And just to add. The side quests actually have depth. The emmrich and manfred quest line was heartbreaking with the choice at the end. Because the choice actually mattered (no spoilers). Legit spent 5 minutes not knowing which to pick. One of the best questlines I've played for a while.

[ChiefofLoliPolice]

Well it off the millions of people on this planet that play games of course there are some people bound to like it. Well hey to each his own and youth entitled to your own opinion that's totally fine. But this is not a good game at all.

You can tell at one point this was supposed to be a live service game and come to find out it actually was before it got canned and turned into a single player game and when you know the history of certain games starting off as live service but changed into something completely different in the middle of the dev cycle....Then everything else makes complete sense.

This game is just awful in every way except for some of the biomes and the music. Those were actually pretty good. Everything else is just mediocre and God awful.

If your enjoying then hey be my guest.

[TheColbertinator]

I've never come across a Dragon Age game that everyone liked. Even Origins had critics claiming it was too easy or too clunky or not up to par with the first Baldurs Gate games in terms of story. Personally the only game I could never return to was 2.

[isarai]

- So we didn't even try to"

[chicken_in_the_corn]

With the way the gaming community is now, there was absolutely nothing they could have done to make them like this game.

[Gamingsince1981]

Nah, I think If they made a good game instead of the crap they released it would have been fine.

[TheNamelessOne]

I was cautiously optimistic for Veilguard. I would love to get another Dragon Age game I could actually enjoy. I would love to be able to say that Bioware seems to be back on track.

But no; I don't want to play the new Dragon Age. No. I don't think Bioware is improving over time. I think they're getting worse.

[Armaggedon]

Other than the community making the game themselves, yeah.

[Blad3runner00]

If only they listened to gamers and made a Dragon Age people wanted. Instead, they made a Disney’fied DA game that nobody asked for.

If no one asks for “Product A”, but wants “Product B”, why would you still make “Product A” and wonder why it wasent successful?

I don’t get publishers sometimes.

[Armaggedon]

Because product A in another series was successful. Publishers think in terms of numbers. They typically aren’t actually in the trenches playing the games themselves. Also, truth is that the gaming audience is becoming increasingly hard to read. I notice this from countless discussions and general observation.

[Flewid638]

I liked what it was trying to be. Still put it down because only 2 takedown animations is just lazy AF.

Y'all can enjoy your culture war though.

[glennhkboy]

"It was never going to match the DA4 in people's minds" Why??????!!!! Why developers now dead-set to NOT making games in people's mind?????