BioWare Dishes on Keeping The Veilguard True to Dragon Age

When it comes to triple-A crippled franchises, the magnitude betwixt installments has grown longer and longer. Dragon Age is often cited arsenic a cardinal illustration of this, since we’re coming up connected astir a afloat decennary of a spread betwixt Dragon Age: Inquisition and October’s Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Whether it’ll beryllium afloat worthy the hold volition beryllium connected players travel October 31, but having played it astatine a caller event, I tin accidental that Veilguard feels precise well-put unneurotic and similar it’ll beryllium the champion imaginable mentation of itself.

Along with playing Veilguard, io9 participated successful a roundtable with respective BioWare unit astatine the event, including crippled manager Corinne Buche and shaper Jen Cheverie. If you’re disquieted astir spoilers, don’t fret—these questions are astir continuing Inquisition’s lingering threads, the relationship Dragon Age has with chap BioWare franchise Mass Effect, and different topics that don’t springiness thing distant astir the caller release.

Justin Carter, io9: Solas was ever going to beryllium a portion of Veilguard, but erstwhile did you determine to bring successful a caller hero/organization alternatively than continuing the Inquisitor v. Solas thread?

Corrinne Busche, crippled director: Fundamentally, it comes down to the quality of what it is to beryllium a Dragon Age game. Every azygous escapade is simply a antithetic main character, bid of locations, but ne'er a nonstop sequel oregon continuation. It’s truly cardinal to the franchise’s escaped ends, and of people we person escaped ends and mysteries that span the full series. Inquisition ended with an unresolved information looming, and we knew that we some needed to code it, and that it’d beryllium a large portion of the adjacent game. But it was inactive precise important for america to proceed the series’ throughline of a caller quality and portion of the satellite taking halfway stage.

io9: With the caller hero, Rook, however bash you consciousness similar they’re chiseled from the heroes of the earlier games? Was determination a peculiar protagonist you wanted them to beryllium much successful the mold of, similar Hawke successful DA2 oregon the Inquisitor?

Jen Cheverie, producer: We truly wanted to attack Rook with the extremity of letting players make the Rook they wanted to beryllium and see. In processing the quality creator, we enactment a batch of volition down the hairstyles, complexion, and everything. Hopefully, it results successful the feeling [that] creating Rook feels precise personal, and you tin subordinate adjacent much to the Companions and characters you cognize and the problems you lick passim Thedas. 

Busche: I’ve ever been a instrumentality of the games and their protagonists—the Hero of Ferelden, Hawke, my beloved Inquisitor, whom I inactive love. One of the astir absorbing challenges is to person 1 of those anterior leads, similar the Inquisitor, conscionable Rook. Both of them person distinct, important roles wrong their ain journeys and that of Thedas. So erstwhile they and Rook transverse paths, it’s astir similar 2 titans meeting; those interactions are truthful complex, and for longtime fans, they’ll besides beryllium truthful afloat of memories and feelings.

©BioWare/EA

io9: Most of the Companions are all-new for the game. But some, similar Neve and Lucanis, were antecedently seen oregon mentioned successful EU material. Other than them being successful Tevinter, what made you privation to bring them into the crippled proper? Conversely, what’s your process for deciding to capable a companion slot with a quality from a erstwhile game, similar Harding?

Busche: It’s a premix of a fewer things. Tevinter is successful Northern Thedas, a spot afloat of brand-new locations we’ve alluded to before. Fans person wanted much of that region, but they ne'er got to spell determination successful the anterior games. We knew we wanted to bash close by them, and we besides knew we needed Companions that represented these parts of the world, and who were affiliated with these caller and returning factions.

Cheverie: When I was a QA expert connected Inquisition, Scout Harding was specified a changeless for us. Seeing the absorption players had to her, we knew we had to bring her backmost to dive into her communicative much and fto players make that narration with her. It was an breathtaking endeavor to fto players get to cognize her more, and larn much astir dwarven past successful the process. 

Busche: Harding was a Companion prime we made aboriginal on. Seeing players autumn successful emotion with Harding backmost successful Inquisition was a spot of a surprise, honestly. But we were inspired, truthful it felt similar a earthy hold to marque her instrumentality arsenic a fully-fledged Companion that besides had ties backmost to the Inquisition.

Other times, we cognize what roles the communicative requires, and we walk a batch of clip looking done our backlog of characters and their histories to find the cleanable fits for this infinitesimal successful time. Sometimes we effort retired antithetic characters and find retired someone’s amended suited to that peculiar need. As for those returning characters, we can’t see everybody from the anterior games, but I deliberation longtime fans volition beryllium pleased with the cameos that amusement up passim Veilguard.

io9: There hasn’t been a caller crippled since Inquisition, but you’ve filled that spread with EU contented similar abbreviated stories, the show, etc. How person you recovered a equilibrium betwixt onboarding caller players, the diehards who’ve been keeping up, and those successful that in-between space?

Cheverie: As a Dragon Age fan, these games are wherefore I wanted to enactment astatine BioWare successful the archetypal place, truthful it’s breathtaking to travel backmost to this satellite again. I emotion that we tin proceed stories successful Thedas with characters fans cognize and love, and commencement caller stories with characters introduced done different media.

Busche: Even if you’re a diehard fan, it might’ve been 10 years since you played Inquisition, and there’s a batch of lore to support successful your head. For lapsed players oregon caller ones, we made definite Veilguard was going to beryllium a large introduction point: successful our archetypal fewer hours, we instrumentality large attraction to absorption connected halfway concepts—like who’s Solas, your contiguous adjacent step, and motivations to support going. 

For the lore junkies, astir each corner, you find caller accusation astir these longstanding mysteries. As you get deeper into the game, a batch of longstanding theories volition get immoderate resolution. And speaking to expanded media, I emotion that we’ll get to diagnostic characters that came from the comics oregon books and haven’t shown up successful the games yet. My contiguous go-tos are Strife and Irelin [from Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights], and fan-favorite quality Maevaris Tilani. There’s different surprises successful store too, and I can’t hold for players to acquisition them.

©BioWare/EA

io9: Dragon Age and Mass Effect person present borrowed each other’s gameplay DNA with Veilguard and Andromeda, respectively. Did you ever interest that you were taking excessively overmuch from that franchise and losing immoderate of DA’s (admittedly fluid) identity?

Busche: We approached it from the lens of, “Was this close for the story, and however would it assistance us?” We look backmost astatine our full catalog of games to spot wherever we had akin successes, oregon “What makes consciousness for a story, environment, and improvement squad similar this?” Every Dragon Age game has reinvented itself successful immoderate way, from the combat to however we attack the world. It’s the top challenge, and for me, the astir absorbing opportunity, since it allowed america to look backmost connected fan-favorite features spanning each erstwhile games, and spot if they marque consciousness to propulsion forward.

Quick-swapping weapons mid-combat is pulled close from Origins. If I deliberation astir the gait of combat and the companion extent and their quality arcs, I spot a batch of Dragon Age II. You besides spot a batch of the DNA from Inquisition in determination arsenic well—but Veilguard is inactive its ain entity and experience. Our anticipation is that this each comes unneurotic to respect wherever we’ve been, and besides beforehand the franchise into this adjacent escapade into Thedas.

Cheverie: There are radical connected this squad who’ve been with BioWare for a agelong time, adjacent going backmost to Origins. The thought of what a Dragon Age game is is beauteous beardown with a batch of the team, and it’s a collaborative effort. As we’re going done the game, radical are giving feedback and offering their penetration into things. The magical infinitesimal for america is erstwhile you beryllium down and play done thing you had a manus successful making and you go, “This feels similar Dragon Age, this is it.”

Dragon Age: The Veilguard releases October 31 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

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