{"id":56553,"date":"2024-09-25T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-25T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.xtremeservers.com\/blog\/how-dragon-age-the-veilguard-grapples-with-the-series-wildly-expansive-lore-and-your-choices-in-it\/"},"modified":"2024-09-25T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-25T16:00:00","slug":"how-dragon-age-the-veilguard-grapples-with-the-series-wildly-expansive-lore-and-your-choices-in-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.xtremeservers.com\/blog\/how-dragon-age-the-veilguard-grapples-with-the-series-wildly-expansive-lore-and-your-choices-in-it\/","title":{"rendered":"How Dragon Age: The Veilguard Grapples With the Series\u2019 Wildly Expansive Lore (and Your Choices in It)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Somewhat famously, the fourth game in the Dragon Age series has gone through a lot <\/em>of changes in the ten years since Dragon Age: Inquisition. What\u2019s now known as Dragon Age: The Veilguard began development in 2015 and in that time, reports emerged<\/u><\/a> of Dragon Age 4 going the live-service route, with a heavy multiplayer component.<\/p>\n

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The eventual confirmation that EA would let BioWare go full single-player with Dragon Age 4<\/u><\/a>, keeping with the series\u2019 history, led to a major sigh of relief from many fans. And when I got my hands on the game last month for our IGN First coverage (read my full preview here<\/u><\/a>), I struggled to catch any whiffs of its multiplayer past in the gameplay, so I can only imagine the overhaul that was done behind the scenes.<\/p>\n

But, interestingly, there was one thing that Dragon Age: The Veilguard\u2019s creative director, John Epler, tells me never changed throughout the near-decade of development: \u201cThere was never a version of the story of Dragon Age 4 where Solas was not at the center,\u201d he says. Basically, if you were worried that the name change from Dragon Age: Dreadwolf<\/u><\/a> to The Veilguard would mean we\u2019re not focused on Solas, think again.<\/p>\n

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Solas, of course, was once the companion to the player character, the Inquisitor, in Dragon Age: Inquisition. A mild-mannered, mysterious apostate, Solas (Spoiler warning for Dragon Age: Inquisition<\/strong>) disappeared at the end of the base game, only for a massive reveal at the end of the Trespasser DLC: Solas is actually the elven god known as Fen’harel, or the Dread Wolf, and he has plans to tear down what\u2019s known as The Veil in order to restore the world of the ancient elves. Doing so will destroy the world of Thedas as we know it, essentially making your once-friend (or even romantic interest) the new big bad.<\/p>\n

The \u201cbones\u201d of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, Epler explains, were always going to come from where that story was left in Trespasser.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we ended Trespasser, we felt that we were making a promise, a commitment to our fans of, \u2018This is the story we’re going to tell. This is where we want to go with it,\u2019\u201d Epler says. \u201cThere were different versions of the story. There were versions of the story where maybe you didn’t necessarily progress as far in your fight against Solas, but Solas has always been at the center of Dragon Age 4\u2019s story.\u201d<\/p>\n

That much was evident in my own time with the game. When The Veilguard picks up, the customizable player character, Rook, has been recruited by Dragon Age series mainstay Varric to help stop Solas\u2019 ritual. After Rook foils Solas\u2019 plan (and accidentally frees two blighted elven gods in the process, whoopsie<\/em>), the two have a heated confrontation, and it quickly becomes clear that Rook will have their own unique relationship with Solas, as the Inquisitor did before them.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what’s been fun for us, too, is trying to build Rook as kind of almost a mirror of Solas.”<\/section>\n

\u201cRook does get in Solas’ way and now there’s a connection between the two of them,\u201d Epler says. \u201cI think what’s been fun for us, too, is trying to build Rook as kind of almost a mirror of Solas because that gives us a lot of opportunities to build some interesting interactions and reactions between the two of them.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019ll also give us ample opportunity to learn more about Solas. As has already been revealed in IGN First\u2019s coverage and other previews, players will even get to see some of Solas\u2019 memories firsthand.<\/p>\n

\u201cSolas wasn’t always the character he is now. Thousands of years ago, he was a rebel,\u201d Epler says. \u201cHe was the kind of person who stood up for the little guy. He still has a tremendous love for spirits who he sees as these beings that are being unfairly treated, unfairly maligned. So Rook became this character that we could explore some aspects of Solas’ personality but also give you a protagonist that, because it’s a BioWare game, you can shape to a large degree.\u201d<\/p>\n

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From the Inquisitor to Rook <\/strong><\/h2>\n

The focus on Solas, the elven gods, and the connections to Dragon Age: Inquisition does bring up an interesting question: how will Dragon Age: The Veilguard ease in new players with its wildly expansive lore? The campaign starts with a surprisingly succinct and effective recap from Varric, but even as a longtime fan, I imagined it might be a lot for players new to the franchise (or even those who\u2019ve forgotten some of the details after all these years).<\/p>\n

It\u2019s one of the advantages of having a relative outsider in Rook to lead the proceedings. Epler clarifies that, at this point, Rook has known Varric and Harding (a Scout from Inquisition who\u2019s now a full-blown companion in The Veilguard) \u201cfor a little while.\u201d But otherwise, Rook is something of a blank slate aside from the pre-written backstories that derive from one of six factions you can choose.<\/p>\n

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But Rook marked an intentional pivot from the Inquisitor in other ways, too. It\u2019s hard to deny a heavy presence of the classic \u201cchosen one\u201d trope in Dragon Age: Inquisition, as your character is the only one with a mark on their hand that can save the world. The Inquisitor becomes a religious figure (whether they choose to embrace it or not), essentially heralded as a messiah while amassing a wealth of political power as leader of the Inquisition. <\/p>\n

Epler says that the team wanted to avoid not a \u201cpower creep,\u201d but something of a \u201creputation creep\u201d when it comes to the protagonist of The Veilguard.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the end of Inquisition, you are the chosen one,\u201d he says. \u201cEventually you shut down the Inquisition or you hand it over to the Chantry because, through this almost mythological hero-building that’s come around you as a character, it’s become too big and unwieldy. With Rook, we wanted to give you an opportunity to see things from a different perspective in the world, someone who has to kind of earn their place. There’s nothing about Rook that somebody looks at and is like, \u2018Well, I wasn’t going to trust you, but you’ve got this magic hand or these documents.\u2019 Rook has to earn the respect, has to earn the trust of these different groups in Thedas.\u201d<\/p>\n