Summary
- Dragon Age: The Veilguard trailer was poorly received, but previews from journalists are more promising.
- Varric's humor and role in the game present challenges, as they may not align with BioWare's traditional systems.
- Despite potential issues, Varric's history with Solas adds depth and nostalgia to the gameplay trailer.
The Dragon Age: The Veilguard trailer was very poorly received. From the almost Fortnite-esque cutesy art style, to the cheesy dialogue ripped straight from Guardians of the Galaxy, to the colour of Varric Tethras’ hair, people distatic.aayyy.com/topic/dn/’t like it.
Thankfully, previews from journalists who actually got their hands on the game were better. This is old-school BioWare in 2024, and while we’ll be playing it a year on from Baldur’s Gate 3 when Larian’s masterpiece is still fresh in the memory, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Nobody can do BioWare like BioWare. So why does the trailer eschew everything BioWare is known for?
Does anyone else think that Fable and Dragon Age: The Veilguard should swap art styles?
Dragon Age is a pretty self-serious series. It has moments of humour, sure, but the parts of the game that stick in the mind, that you remember decades later, are things like deciding whether to kill a demon-infested child or not; your decisions of who to save, who to smooch; and how all of these decisions impact the world around you.
Our beloved dwarf might be the problem. Varric has provided us with his gruff sass since Dragon Age 2, and I’ve always appreciated his presence. His narration of Inquisition is a fantastic way to introduce the game and immediately raise the stakes, but both his humour and his role in the games present problems for The Veilguard.
First, his jokes. I think it’s important to have some brevity in any game to stop things from becoming too depressing, but Varric’s brand of sarcastic sass is exactly the kind of Whedonesque quip that people hated in the recent trailers. Admittedly it works better when spread across dozens of hours of gameplay rather than jam-packed into a few minutes of trailer, but it still might be the wrong direction for the series to continue in. Dragon Age: Inquisition finally made the eponymous drakes scary, so I don’t want The Veilguard to undermine that with a “He’s behind me, isn’t he?” in the build up to a fight.
Secondly, Varric’s role in the games is at odds with BioWare’s systems. In Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition, he’s invincible and unromanceable, the latter much to many players’ chagrin. Characters dying based on your decisions is a key part of what makes Dragon Age feel like a gut punch even when you were trying to do your best to protect the world, and Varric is immune.
Admittedly, this is the case for many party members across the series, but at least they can be romanced. What I would have given to wake up with my Hawke’s head nestled in Varric’s chest hair in Dragon Age 2. It would be difficult to make him into a better-loved character than he already is, but this would have been the way to do it.
And yet, he’s always alone. With being betrayed by his friends and watching his loved ones die time and time again, this is quite fitting for his character, but it means he always feels like a bit of an outsider. Our companions need that interactivity, especially in 2024.
CloseHowever, there are good things about Varric, too. Obviously. He’s a storyteller, the perfect dwarf to spin the Rook’s yarn over the course of The Veilguard. He’s also got history with Solas, which many of the other characters do not. The power of this is shown in BioWare’s gameplay trailer, when he tries to talk the Dread Wolf down from his cataclysmic ledge. We see Solas’ reaction to being called Chuckles after a decade. We hear Varric’s quiet, pained “please” to try to change the mage’s mind. We notice the pain on Varric’s face as Solas destroys Bianca. There’s clearly power in a hit of nostalgia, and it’s showcased far better in the gameplay trailer than the reveal before it.
I still don’t know if I’d have preferred Varric to cameo in The Veilguard – as so many returning characters have before – rather than lead the party alongside The Rook. I still don’t know if that’s his role in the game. Maybe he and Solas get pulled into the Fade and must work together to escape. Maybe his streak of death-dodging luck finally runs out and our favourite dwarf follows in the footsteps of his beloved Bianca. These would make for powerful moments. These would be far better than using him as cheap comic relief. If Varric must be a part of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare needs to do it right.
NextDragon Age: The Veilguard Knows What It Means To Be A BioWare Game
Dragon Age is back, and maybe so is the ol' BioWare Magic
Posts 3
