I have a lot of unpopularDragon Ageopinions, it seems. At least, that’s the idea I’m getting from the comment section of every article I write on the subject. Mostly, it’s because I don’t get on withInquisition’s open-world areas, which I find bland and a slog to power through. Why must I find a bunch of collectibles to continue the story? It makes me resent playing the game, despite the fact I’m engrossed in the narrative.
Some other opinions that have proved unpopular:Dragon Age: Origins is the best one; Dragon Age 2 is okay, actually; I don’t particularly care for Varric.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard hasrecently revealedthat it will not be importing World States to the new game. In previous entries, many of your important decisions (and some that you thought weren’t so important) carried over to the next game. Place Alistair on the throne and send Morrigan off with his child in Origins, and it impacts the sequels. you’re able to meetyourWarden andyourHawke in Inquisition. It’s a really innovative manner of making your decisions feel important, and few games have attempted to do the same.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be ignoring all of this, and fans are in a frenzy. This was Dragon Age’s wholething, and many fear that The Veilguard’s Ferelden will look far more generic thanks to not personalising its world to your previous decisions.
Our resident Dragon Age stan Rhiannon Bevantried to come to terms with this changeand realised that this is still our Dragon Age, even if we need to work our imaginations a little harder. As someone who came to this series far more recently, I agree.
Here comes my latest unpopular opinion: I’m not bothered by the change to World States. I always knew this day would come. How far could BioWare take this system? How much more work would it take to add a bunch of inconsequential options to every consecutive game to honour every possible decision from the previous games? The potential story differences were exponentially growing, andthere had to be a point where it became too much to handle.
Would you prefer the developers work on vast branching narratives or make a focused, intentional game? You may prefer the former, and that’s okay. I’d prefer the latter. Dragon Age: Inquisition was, for me, far too open-ended in its design, and while I loved meeting the returning characters from my previous prequel playthroughs, it didn’t make up for the dull collectibles and bland environments.
Ultimately, it was nice to see decisions from previous games impact their sequels, but it wasn’t what I loved most about Dragon Age. I loved the characters, the stories, the roleplaying. I believe that can all still happen without taking what I did in Inquisition into account.
I’m also a little burned out on Dragon Age. This is entirely a personal thing, and I don’t expect anyone else to relate, but this article is about my feelings and nobody else’s. To be quite honest, I’m ready for a fresh start in this magical world. I’m ready for a streamlined narrative. I’m ready to stop the Dread Wolf and not have to deal with the fallout of all my micro-decisions in previous games. I know this isn’t the Dragon Age way, and I loved the narrative it weaved in previous entries, but right now, I don’t need that.
There’s something to mourn with Dragon Age’s World States. It feels like the series has lost something unique. We’re worried that BioWare might be cooking some generic RPG soup without it. But there’s no way of knowing right now. I hope that instead of spending months, years, working on implementing narrative implications for every possible decision players could have made in the previous three games, the developers have had a chance to make The Veilguard’s core gameplay loop more enticing. That they’ve been afforded the time to create meaningful connections with the new party members. That they’ve been allowed to make Dragon Age a deeper game again, even if it doesn’t connect so well to the past.
What if BioWare decided to start again, and the follow-up to The Veilguard tookallof your decisions into account? It could work in trilogies, allowing the developer to ensure our decisions matter but not let things spiral out of control.
If not, then the trade-off might not have been worth it. But I’m going in with an open mind and I’m ready for a fresh start. Beware, Solas, because I’m coming after you completely baggage-free.
