Dragon Age The Veilguard’s PS5 choices have messed up everything

BioWare may have just made a huge mistake when it comes to Dragon Age The Veilguard and choices. I’m now feeling unsure about this upcoming RPG.

Dragon Age The Veilguard’s PS5 choices have messed up everything
Sean Lawson

Opinion by Sean Lawson

Published

I’ve been counting down the days until those Dragon Age The Veilguard trophies land on PS5 on Thursday, October 31, 2024. However, with just over a month to go, some incredibly disappointing news has sucked all the hype from me and I’m left worried about how Dragon Age The Veilguard has handled choices from the previous Dragon Age games. Who knows, maybe the Dragon Age The Veilguard companions can still make the game worthwhile.

Dragon Age The Veilguard will only use three choices from previous games

  • Dragon Age The Veilguard is the new entry into EA's RPG franchise
  • Release Date: Thursday, October 31, 2024
  • Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC
In an interview with IGN (and then dissected by YouTuber, Kala Elizabeth), creative director John Epler has a lot to say about our past decisions made in Dragon Age. We learned that only three choices that you’ve made in previous Dragon Age games will carry over to Dragon Age The Veilguard. All three of these choices come from Dragon Age Inquisition.
While Dragon Age Inquisition had The Keep which we could use to carry over all of our key decisions in Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age 2, Veilguard does not. Instead, the PS5 game will only allow players to select three story decisions via tarot cards in the "Adventurer's Past" section of the character creator, where you will also remake your Inquisitor.

The three decisions you can make in Dragon Age The Veilguard are thus:
  1. Who your Inquisitor has romanced
  2. Whether or not your disbanded the Inquisition
  3. Whether you chose to stop Solas or save him
That's it. That is all the choices that will carry over to Dragon Age The Veilguard and to say I am underwhelmed is an understatement. The whole point of these games is to build the world around us through our choices. So, having barely any of those choices actually impact Veilguard seems like such a huge miss on BioWare's part.
Epler did try to explain the reason for such an abysmal decision, stating: “Our philosophy when it comes to integrating past player choices and world states is wherever possible we want to avoid contradicting what has happened before. We never want to invalidate your choices.

“For Dragon Age The Veilguard, among many reasons why we moved to Northern Thedas is it becomes a little bit more of a clean slate for us. There are not as many decisions you have made up to this point that have an impact on what's happening in Northern Thedas. And we don't have to speak directly to things like who is the Divine? Because again, that's happening in the South.

“There's never a sense of, ‘Oh, that decision doesn't exist.’ But maybe we don't touch on it in this particular title. Much like Inquisition didn't touch on every decision from Origins, much like DA2 didn't touch on every decision from Origins, it's kind of in that same vein of we're not going to contradict it. We just may not always reference it directly.”
SeanL

Dragon Age The Veilguard's lack of choices feels like a cop-out

Look, I can understand that it must be a monstrous task trying to bring every little decision that players have made over the years to a game like Dragon Age The Veilguard. Honesty, it would probably be near impossible given how many variations and switch-ups would need to take place. However, having only three choices be carried over from one Dragon Age title is absurd.

The fact that none of our actions in Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age 2 have any impact on the story of Veilguard is incredibly frustrating and disappointing. I've been waiting for years to have some new information crop up about my Grey Warden from Origins, and now it looks like that dream has been crushed once again.

This also means there won't be any lore documents that we find in the world that point to our past decisions and the effects they may have had, which is what I was expecting as a bare minimum.
While Varric's fate is left up in the air at present, I find it hard to believe that they also wouldn't have anything to say about Hawke from Dragon Age 2. Heck, a lot of us may have left them behind in The Fade during the story of Inquisition, but there is no mention of that. So, I guess Hawke or whoever we left behind is going to be trapped there indefinitely until BioWare ever decides to revisit it.

This has also left me completely baffled by Morrigan who we know will definitely be in the game. We have made so many decisions with her throughout the entire Dragon Age series and you're telling me that none of those choices matter? I just find that baffling.

Some of those decisions feel pretty big. In Inquisition, there was the whole Well of Sorrows moment that has a pretty big conclusion depending on if you allowed Morrigan to drink from it. I struggle to see how that won't come into play, but it looks like we'll just have to roll with whatever BioWare decides happened there.
I'm trying to remain positive about Veilguard as I have been so excited about the game ever since the first trailer dropped all those moons ago. However, I'm all about a good solid narrative and world-building. I've been building my Dragon Age world for years now with each little choice I make and for barely any of them to impact Veilguard is just such a letdown.

All I can hope is that one day BioWare will pull all of these choices together again, but I won't be holding my breath on that. What do you guys think about this? Disappointed that your choices from previous games don't really matter? Do you still have hope in Dragon Age The Veilguard on PS5? Let us know all your thoughts in the comments below!
Written by Sean Lawson
Sean is a Staff Writer who focuses on the geekiest Sony news. He specializes in PlayStation trophies, the best PS Plus games, RPGs, and fighting games. Sean is using this experience to cover Dragon Age The Veilguard, Monster Hunter Wilds, Funko Fusion, and Silent Hill 2 for PS5, all while he still dives into favorite games like Mass Effect, Tomb Raider, and Persona.
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