I have a few thoughts about the recently revealed player choices in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. I am staggered that Neve is the most popular romantic choice, with her writing being muddled and her voice acting, to be kind, even worse. The fact Lucanis is second suggests that people are just picking the two most conventionally attractive humans, which is very dull – these people definitely play Mass Effect as Soldiers.
But at a certain point, I’m just disagreeing with an opinion. Many would find my choice of Taash, having weighed up Harding and Emmrich, equally ludicrous. A bigger issue arises in the other decisions, one that goes beyond my thoughts about why everyone should think like me all the time, and strikes at the game’s fatal flaw.
Spoilers for The Veilguard follow.
The Veilguard Needed More Choices
There is not a great deal of choice in The Veilguard. Its roleplay opportunities are significantly streamlined from previous entries, and the series has lost its stance as a genre leader in this regard. Even the meagre World State options we could select had little to no bearing on the game, and I am reluctant to believe promises that this will change in the future. Most of us played the same version of The Veilguard, which was not the case with prior Dragon Age games.
But it’s how similar our versions are that are most damning. You don’t change much at all through the story. You can punch or appease the First Warden, but ultimately that quest ends the same way, so it barely matters. You’re mostly choosing how you react to events, not shaping what events happen. Deciding which city to save when the Blighted dragons attack is the only real choice you make – and is a near perfect split at 49/51.
However, the end of each companion quest also has a key choice attached. Whatever you choose changes the outfit you unlock for them. Like deciding how to play your Rook, it matters on a personal narrative level if you want it to, but few of these even impact the companions’ story much, and none change the overall narrative. But even there, cracks in BioWare’s approach show.
The Veilguard’s Companion Choices Feel Forced
First, there are some good stats. At the end of Bellara’s quest, you can free the Archive Spirit (which will help hide the evil deeds of the elves of the past), or preserve it (keeping history accurate but risking further persecution of elves). This is at 44/56, a close ratio that indicates a difficult choice. As an elf, I preserved it. I’m not sure how weighty the choice would be for other races, and the lack of real discrimination in the game removes some context, but this is a great example of doing it right.
Likewise turning Emmrich into a Lich, at the cost of Manfred, was a tough one to balance, at 46/54. I opted to make him a Lich because he had professed that was his dream, and Manfred had made a noble and willing sacrifice well aware of what Emmrich’s future held. But some couldn’t give up on a friend like that, and I respect it.
Other choices show a more uneven split, which tends to be a sign of an easy or unconvincing decision. 67 percent of us freed the majestic griffons instead of sending them to work for the most depressing military unit in the land that trains them to be cold-blooded killers. 78 percent of us jailed Lucanis’ traitor (most of us wish we could straight up kill him), and a whopping 84 percent of us told the sweet and good-natured Harding that she should not become an avatar of pure ancestral rage, because as cool as that sounds, it does not fit her character at all.
Solas Doesn’t Offer Much Choice Either
Most egregious is Solas. There are four choices you can make in the confrontation against Solas, though the stats don’t suggest this. Three percent of players sacrificed themselves in the final confrontation, but this is an edge case only possible if two extra companions die in the assault. However, only eight percent elected to fight Solas, which given we’re trying to stop him, feels low. 17 percent tricked him, again low considering he is the trickster god (he even praises you when he realises you’ve taken this route), and 72 percent offered him redemption.
I know he was a companion in the last game, but he’s the villain here. A complex one, sure. But it shows, more than any other choice, that the game wants all convenience and no confrontation, and that nearly three quarters of the players opted for a Hands Across America ending. I tricked him, for the record.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s lack of meaningful choices may well prove to be its legacy when the hype and hysteria dies down. I still enjoyed my time with it, mostly because I appreciated the Mass Effectness of it all, but it lacked depth even at a first pass. With so little difference (and so little temptation to change the few things we can), I’m not sure my second playthrough will change at all. I’m not sure yours will either.
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OpenCritic
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Top Critic Rating:
80/100
- Released
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October 31, 2024