Dragon Age: The Veilguardrevives the iconic franchise after its decade-long hiatus, butdespite gaining a mostly positive reception,Veilguardhas received waves of controversy since its release. WhileVeilguardwas made by a brand-new team following the disastrous release ofMass Effect Andromedayears prior, BioWare had a lot to prove to fans of both franchises. While it does manage to fix many issues players had with the previous sci-fi outing withAndromeda,Veilguardstill didn’t quite hit the mark of what fans expect from a sequel of the belovedDragon Agefranchise.
While the negative feedback hasn’t prevented the overall release all too harshly,Veilguard’sproblems have left many players fearful of the future of the nextMass Effectgame. Despite the two iconic franchises having completely different settings, they share similar core ideas with dynamiccompanion romance optionsand impressive writing styles that benefit greatly from player choice. Unfortunately forDragon Age: The Veilguard,its dialogue options are some of the weakest in the franchise, lacking the divisive or downright evil options from previous entries.
A Disappointing Selection Of Dialogue Choices
Taking Away Player’s Control In Making A Unique Protagonist
By far one of the biggest complaints aboutVeilguardis how limiting the dialogue options are throughout the game, taking away the freedom that made their hit franchises so popular. Dialogue wheels with various tone outcomes tend to fall flat in their delivery, asthe meanest dialogue choices sound slightly sterner than the others, aside from a few rare instances spread throughout the game. Many players also feel like there isn’t nearly as much decision-making to be had inVeilguardas there should be, with most choices having similar outcomes up until the final few hours of the game’s story.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard Endings Explained (In Detail)
Dragon Age: The Veilguard has multiple possible outcomes based on the choices players make along the way, with some life and death consequences.
Veilguard’sfinal act and various endingsdo hold up to the impact and grim story beats players expect from aDragon Ageinstallment, but fans were left disappointed this level of quality didn’t carry throughout the rest of theVeilguard’snarrative. Aside from the lack of player choice,much of the dialogue throughoutVeilguardis much more lighthearted and quippy than before, feeling out of place in the gritty fantasy setting of the series.
The lack of evil or conflict-generating dialogue choices is likely a result of this overall lighthearted tone shift, lacking away much of the edge or variety that made the series so unique in the past.
Worries Over The Future Of The Next Mass Effect Game
A Watered Down Version Of Past Social Mechanics
WhileDragon AgeandMass Effectare completely different games in their own right,many of the issues players had withVeilguardmight make for difficult habits to shake off in future games, most notably in their writing styles. The morality system from the originalMass Effecttrilogy gave players a drastic amount of freedom in how they wanted a social encounter to play out, letting them make reactionary decisions in Veilguard’s narrative.
PuttingMass Effect’siconic dialogue aside, many fans like Reddit userAlternative_Fan2458still felt pastDragon Agegames have vastly superior conversation options compared toVeilguard’s reportedly bland writing direction.
Where these issues become most prevalent are related toVeilguard’scompanions, lacking in conflict or serious choices that could cause party strife or infighting, unlike in previousDragon Agegames where members would have more dynamic reactions to player choices. Overall, much of the world inVeilguardhas the potential to make for interesting and impactful character stories, but it’s often held back by the game’s unnatural and inoffensive writing style.
Another common complaint from critical fans wasVeilguard’snew art style direction, which aimed for more cartoonish design choices for the characters. Thankfully for fans worried about this new direction, according to developers,Veilguard’sstyle will not carry over into the upcoming Mass Effect game.
There’s Still Hope For Mass Effect’s Revival
The Developers Aim For The Mature Tone Of The Originals
Luckily, it isn’t all doom and gloom for fans of the massively popular sci-fi series, asthe developers have stated they will be continuing the more mature tone of the originalMass Effecttrilogy,according to a post by BioWare executive producer,Michael Gambleon X. Based on the post, it’s clear that BioWare has different expectations on the kind of tone and overall style they want for both franchises moving forward, giving players some hope at avoiding anotherMass Effect Andromedacatastrophe.
BioWare games have never shied away from throwing in comedic moments throughout their franchises, but what made them work so well was placing serious characters in these situations to humanize them, providing moments of lightheartedness in an otherwise bleak world. Despite not being the perfect sequel to theDragon Agefranchise, BioWare has followed through withVeilguard’scomplete lack of microtransactions, being one less thing to worry about forMass Effectfans.
While it’s unfortunate for fans of the latestDragon Ageinstallment,BioWare has stated they plan ondirecting their full focuson the nextMass Effectgame right away rather than making additional content forDragon Age: The Veilguard,even bringing in talent that worked on the originalMass Effecttrilogy.
Source:Mass Effect/YouTube,Alternative_Fan2458/Reddit,GambleMike/X
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is the fourth entry in the Dragon Age franchise and a sequel to 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition. A classic character, Solas, will return as the new game’s antagonist. The game will retain many of the series' staples, such as multiple dialogue options, party choices, romantic options, and more. Dreadwolf will act as the first direct sequel in the Dragon Age franchise.
