The lack of any discernable difference in dialogue choice outcomes ends up lowering the stakes for Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s conflict.
While it does feel like a return to form for BioWare following a few tumultuous years, there’s no denying that Dragon Age: The Veilguard takes some big risks when it comes to the Dragon Age series’ tried and true formula. For some players, Dragon Age: The Veilguard resonates as a worthy follow-up to the award-winning Dragon Age: Inquisition, while for others its more streamlined approach and trimming of RPG systems feels like a disappointment after imagining what the game might be like for a decade. Regardless of which camp players happen to fall into, one element that sees Veilguard somewhat missing the mark is its dialogue options.
Conversations with characters and the ensuing element of player choice via dialogue trees are cornerstones of just about every major BioWare-made RPG, from 1998’s Baldur’s Gate to Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and beyond. Of course, the impact of how players choose to respond to characters resonates through everything from how party members and other NPCs respond to the hero to the outcome of certain story beats and even how the main conflict is resolved. By limiting the emotion and intent of Rook’s dialogue options in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare effectively undermines some of the impact the game’s story might have had.
