Dragon Age: The Veilguard launches on Xbox Series X|S this week on October 31, promising another magical adventure through the world of Thedas to pursue and take down a pair of corrupt ancient Elven gods. While The Veilguard follows on from the events of Dragon Age: Inquisition, this new story also offers a warm welcome to those new to the series.
In an effort to truly experience the freedom of choice and consequence that Bioware games are heralded for, the Xbox Wire team sat down with The Veilguard to explore its character creation choices, lineage, and how early game decisions allow true player agency as you and Rook begin your journey to stop the Gods and assemble The Veilguard.
Creating A Background
Joe: In a story about Elven gods and eldritch artifacts, it struck me that I might get the most bang for my narrative buck by making… an elf who has a history hunting artifacts. Meet Jazeps Aldwin, a member of the treasure hunter/research organization, the Veil Jumpers, with a checkered past and a heart of gold.
I found it easy to make those initial character choices, but I agonized over which class to take. A rogue was the natural choice – quick to sneak in and get to his goal. Equally, a warrior might embody his more heroic characteristics – Jazeps’ backstory has him leaving the Veil Jumpers after foregoing a magical map to save a group of trapped strangers. But mage tends to be where my heart lies in a fantasy RPG – so the question that beckoned was, do I take the class I want, or the role-playing choice I want? The answer lies in how varied those classes can be – I built a mage who could act the way this character might (more on that below).
Even better, my role-playing choices didn’t end with the title screen – a short way into the game, Rook is given a room of their own at your party’s home, the Lighthouse, and you’re asked to decorate. As you do, Rook reminisces about their history before the events of the game. This let me define more about my Rook – even down to choices I thought were incidental, like why he has face tattoos. The result is a character who truly feels like mine.
Danielle: As a fan of roguish, morally grey endeavours (in role-playing settings, of course) I too found myself leering towards similar choices to Joe, but with a darker twist. Enter Merula de Riva, an Elf Mage, and former member of the Antivan Crows, an elite group of assassins, thieves, and all-round bad eggs. I wanted to create a sort of “anti-hero,” a former faceless nobody suddenly – and reluctantly – tasked with saving the world from her own corrupt deities. Not only did The Veilguard allow me to build this background, but gave me the choice to decide how she evolves over time – remain stoic and militant in order to get the job done, or open herself up to the idea of companionship and kindness?
Mike: Well, I wanted to be a Mage too. But since you both decided to jump into the magic user field ahead of me, I elected to see what it’s like to dual wield pointy things as a Rogue — I still went with Elf, however (you can’t take away all my choices). And while my racial traits would probably better be aligned with say, the Antivan Crows, I was curious to see how The Veilguard would support my character if I threw together some of the more unlikely pairings.
My result is Aikahi Ingellvar, a swashbuckling assassin of the undead thanks to my alignment with the Mourn Watch and Lords of Fortune. I’m still playing with how I want to align my character on this adventure, but I do find myself being a bit more of a wise ass than necessary in most of my interactions, which has turned out to be a nice alleviation when the world around us is barrelling toward certain doom.
Combat Choices
Joe: As I mentioned above, choosing to play as a mage came down to the fact that The Veilguard offers some gratifyingly clear options for what kind of class you want to be. When picking a class, you can open a menu to see the three (very different) directions in which you can specialize your class and, for the mage, I spotted the Spellblade path. This turns what could be a “stand at the back and throw spells” character into a whirlwind of blades and elemental explosions. It felt like the perfect fit for my Veil Jumper – the attitude of a rogue with a magical know-how that felt appropriate.
Danielle: Similar to Joe, I too gravitated towards the Spellblade class, the potent combination of lightning magic and deftly dodging between foes felt pretty comfortable for my character. However, feeling a little a burnt out from ‘zap the bads’ lately, I found myself having a little more fun with the Evoker path, that combines excellent long-range abilities and devastating cold damage. Having opted for a higher difficulty than usual, hurling huge damage from afar and, perhaps more crucially, being able to freeze speedy demons in their tracks, made for a powerful and rewarding combat experience.
The ability to switch up your path at any time, respec abilities and try out new skills is also a welcome feature – while The Veilguard imposes plentiful weighty, narrative choices, the option to change up your combat style in line with how your Rook may be evolving makes for a truly immersive role-playing experience.
And, cold heart, cold abilities, I suppose?
Mike: One thing that struck me is that there isn’t really a default path here for the Mourn Watch in the early going, despite it being one of my pre-chosen allegiances. I was expecting to see some specific necromantic-like abilities from the get-go to tap into here, a specific direction that says “pick this, do this” to make your necromancer. So, I was pleasantly surprised to see that Veilguard approached this like, “Nah, just build the character how you want.” So that has left me constantly second-guessing my choices.
So far, I’ve been focusing on trying to unlock Necrosis abilities, which deal damage over time against barriers, as I chart my path as necromancer rogue — no raising the dead spells just yet. I’ve also started to head down the path of the Lords of Fortune skill tree, which are skills that tend to lean on sabotage and support. But I also really like how it feels to cut down all these enemies with my dual-wielding swords, or to widdle enemies down from distance with my bow.
As such, I’m finding myself extremely conflicted with what to do with my character still. I suspect I’ll be refunding some of my skill points a couple of times until I find a good balance between support, hindering abilities, and being able to unleash my blades upon the numerous enemies I’ve encountered. It’s too much choice! I love it.
Player Agency and Choosing Sides
Danielle: Throughout The Veilguard, I was presented with several decisions to make that often altered the course of my journey and the fate of my companions, some harbouring larger consequences than others. One particularly interesting element for me was how decisions from a roleplaying perspective can often clash with a choice made to serve your gameplay experience: Which character complements my fighting style the best? Who do I have to be nice to in order to unlock more of their skills?
The aloofness I elected to take with my Rook somewhat reflected my own position as a newcomer to the series at first – with no preconceived notion of who and what these characters are like, the narrative choices I made in the earliest parts of the game were mainly driven by my gameplay. However, as I got to know these personalities, their stories and their personal plights, I found myself evolving from that frame of mind and truly caring about their fates, asking myself who Merula would gravitate towards or disagree with based on the personality that The Veilguard let me generously create.
Joe: Danielle clearly has a far more artistic mind than me when it comes to this kind of game – most of my choices have been about making my Rook as funny and flippant as possible. Something I love about The Veilguard is that, while most conversation options include the prerequisite “Nice guy/nasty guy” choices, there’s also almost always an option to crack a joke. I’m enjoying directing my Rook to face the potential end of creation with a smile on his face.
The same goes for my companions – while there are natural pairings (the game offers a combo system for abilities), I’m tending to choose who to take with me based on who’ll entertain me most as I go on my missions. I’m being rewarded – some of the banter between companions goes in directions I wouldn’t have expected. It can also be unexpectedly useful – only last night, I was travelling along a river and one of my companions repeated the classic bit of video game wisdom: “Want to check behind that waterfall? There’s often treasure there.” Readers, there was.
Mike: Like I touched upon above, I’ve been flip-flopping a lot in this early phase of the game that I have sampled a variety of companion parings on my adventure – and they all seem to work great. I was worried at first that my choice as a Rogue wasn’t going to blend well with how many magic users assigned to my party in the early hours of the game. As a Rogue, I tend to enjoy complimenting myself alongside a tank (he comes along later, eventually).
My concerns were unwarranted because these magic users are strong. Being able to unleash combined abilities like Fade Bolts with Ice Breaker attacks were more than powerful enough to let me do my own thing, either spinning up my blades or filling demons with arrows. Right now, we’re just absolutely ruining most of the enemies we encountered. Which was awesome.
I suspect I’m a bit further behind Joe and Danielle’s adventure, so the larger narrative-driven choices have yet to really take shape for me. So, I’m still waiting to see how my treatment of one companion or another, or how I may have hurt the feelings of a Gray Warden will affect me in the longer term. But I’m interested in finding out.
Needless to say, the freedom to build our Rook’s background, from surface details like their appearance to more granular components like their combat style, preferred weapons, moral alignment and favoured alliances made for an incredible starting point that put us all in total ownership of our own adventures and the choices within it. What’s even better, is that you’re not totally tied to these starting picks – your character is free to evolve as you see fit, whether that’s down to tense narrative decisions, or just an urge to switch up your combat style and abilities.
The only question that remains is – what kind of Rook will you be? Dragon Age: The Veilguard launches on Xbox Series X|S on October 31.
Dragon Age
: The Veilguard
Electronic Arts
$69.99
$62.99
Enter the world of Thedas, a vibrant land of rugged wilderness, treacherous labyrinths, and glittering cities – steeped in conflict and secret magics. Now, a pair of corrupt ancient gods have broken free from centuries of darkness and are hellbent on destroying the world.
Thedas needs someone they can count on. Rise as Rook, Dragon Age’s newest hero. Be who you want to be and play how you want to play as you fight to stop the gods from blighting the world. But you can’t do this alone – the odds are stacked against you. Lead a team of seven companions, each with their own rich story to discover and shape, and together you will become The Veilguard.
Unite the Veilguard and defy the gods in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, an immersive single player RPG where you become the leader others believe in.
SAVE A BATTERED WORLD
Enter Thedas, a vibrant world of rugged wilderness, treacherous labyrinths and glittering cities. The world is teetering on a knife’s edge while corrupt gods unleash havoc across the continent. Nations war and factions splinter. Who will you trust? From the Arlathan Forest to the back alleys of Minrathous, this is a broken world. Your actions will affect the fate of Thedas forever.
UNITE THE VEILGUARD
Unite a team of seven companions, each with rich lives and deep backstories. These are characters to befriend, and even fall in love with. Among them, an assassin, a necromancer, a detective, each and all bringing their own expertise and unique abilities to the fight. You are never alone, decide who to take into battle and together face down demons, dragons and corrupt gods.
BECOME THE LEADER OTHERS BELIEVE IN
Select from different races and combat classes, customize your appearance, choose your character’s backstory and begin your journey as Rook, Dragon Age’s newest hero. The choice is yours. On your adventures, you’ll gain new abilities and discover unique, powerful artifacts to enhance your own combat style. Brace yourself, there are tough decisions to be made, allies to inspire, and a fight that needs every sword, staff and bow you can muster.
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