Realising none of the choices matter in the end hurts more in a franchise that made you think choices matter. But Inquisiion already had a default worldstate for people who didn't have keep set up or didn't have their original saves. For me at least the default was my first experience and it didn't change much, i enjoyed it. The only thing i felt i was missing out on was Morrigans son, since he isn't considered canon by default. Veilguard (or any game/movie/book) should be able to stand on it's own without references and 'memberberries.
1) They're not going to know or care if we sided with the mages or the templars. A society of mages that was actively meddling in Southern politics isn't going to care if they have a new country of mages or a country of people hostile to mages? Yes, they're going to care. They're going to care a lot the way China cares if another country turns communist. It does not have to directly affect the game. But they're going to care. 2) They're not going to care if Hawke got left in the fade. THEY won't. VARRIC does. Like, oodles he cares about that decision. That really directly impacts his character. And Bioware chose to use him in the player party again. They didn't have to use Varric. They could have done something else to get a clean slate, focus on Harding or something. But they didn't. And then they do this. 3) They're not going to care who rules Orlais Again, politics is important. They're going to care at least a little bit because they have a boarder with Orlais, and who is on the throne, the expansionist Gaspard or the diplomatic Celine, makes a huge difference in if they're at war or not. 4) They don't care who is Divine Probably not. I don't think any of our picks would cause a policy change. Navarra would care if it's Cassandra. 5) Cameos from Allistair. I agree. We do not need another cameo at this moment. However, considering he might be King or might be a Gray Warden leader, erasing him entirely from the world so that he may never return is a bit much. The problem is that with the current system you're arguing that they don't car right now, whereas with Bioware's erasing of world states, they're never going to care again, and that seems unreasonable. They don't have to USE every last detail in the present game, they should just continue to track it in the keep. That was the purpose of the keep. Differences as set dressing: While there are other quests in DA:II that are minor and dependent on DA:O, I will agree that the changes are largely set dressing. But that's only because Bioware hasn't dug in and done the work to make them anything else. Because they don't have to be set dressing if they didn't want them to be. That's a skill problem on Bioware's part, not an argument to suddenly make all choices meaningless.
Since Morrigan and the inquisitor are in the game the well of sorrows choice should matter even if it just means one of them just has more knowledge to help your rook
@@tredeen97 I fully agree with that like I said in the video, I’m not entirely happy with the choices. The well of sorrows is one of the things I really wish was addressed.
At least do the well of sorrows and the fade choice and the mage or Templar’s etc from inquisition? Like This is the only news that I’m devastated by. It’s a literal betrayal to fans who have been with them since the beginning. I didn’t care about the top surgery BS. I care about the fact that they’re forcing our character to be a stereotypical hero and removing our ability to play around with blood magic or moral ambiguity which is what DA is all about. All the past games have literally already been LGBT dating simulators. But… why wouldn’t they do what inquisition did? And have a base world state for new players. And a customizable one for everyone else. I mean you had ten years to figure it out. They were supposed to resolve a cure for the Blight and who we sent into the fade and tie up the amazing story we all fell in love with. This is just cheap. They just wanted to make a brand new game under the title of dragon age. Which is the EXACT SAME mistake they made with Mass effect andromeda. These people were only concerned with making the game woke when it’s already a woke af game that confronts real world issues and dark themes. Also the fact that now Kieran may or may not be the wardens son, idk how they’re going to adress that or the thing with Mythal, removing feminine curves, (when I saw morrigan with no. Cleavage I gasped in offended woman
We have no idea how the story is going to go so all of the choices your referencing could have no effect for example if they kill the inquisitor early and Morrigan leaves then the well of sorrows has no effect. In every game you are the hero you might be a dick about it but you are the hero. The big problem is the lack of forward thinking in the previous game they could bring our choices back in meaningless ways OR you would have a completely different game from start to finish based on your choices. Which would cost tons of time, money and effect to make all of these choices impactful so I'd rather them avoid them and focus those resources on making the current game better.
There's no way you're drawing a connection between the games being "woke" and the decision of which choices carry over the fuck. Top surgery is not "BS" neither are queer romances and characters. These are actual real things in the real world unlike the magical well that binds you to a fantasy god. Regardless, there is no connection there. Inclusivity does not stand in the way of making a good game nor any type of media for that matter. Also, brand new game? When the whole thing is set up around a character from inquisition? be real
my assumption for any carry over previous playthroughs is their pertinence, there are some things that seem to confuse me, for instance if your inquisitor drank from the well of sorrows or not, but assuming thats not apart of the questions asked then it probably has no pertinence to the story, certainly alot of what occurs in da:i doesnt have to do with what will happen in veilguard, but youre right as well alot what is asked doesn't really matter, trying to make all the extra choices meaningful in veilguard would be such a titanic undertaking and i dont blame them for avoiding that
Perhaps, but I and a lot of people don't think Mythal is really dead. We will see though, it was just emphasized so much in Inquisition. But maybe it just doesn't matter for this specific story.
A calm and thoughtfull video about DA:V? What? It's actually possible? Amazing ! I agree with most of it. It was disapointing to hear that only three past choices will affect the story of DA:V. But yes, very few choices from DA:O and DA2 actually had an impact, if you ignore all the codex entries. Zevran, Leliana, Morrigan (and Kieran), Alistair, Nathaniel, Loghain and the Warden can appear later, even in table missions, depending on your choices, but could DA:I be written without considering these choices? Absolutly. These choices would have been ignored : No info on Kieran and Warden from Morrigan, no cameo from Alistair, only Stroud...ect... But DA:V is set in a different region of the world, years later, so appart from Solas and the Inquisitor, there's no real connection between DA:I and DA:V. So who cares about the "False" Divine from the South, who's the Emperor of Orlais or if the Wardens are banned from the South. It doesn't seem pertinent in the new context anyway. And even if i would have loved to see some old faces, i'm also really into diving into new lore from North Thedas. Still, it means other things will be missing and/or not mentioned in DA:V that could have been pertinent. For exemple : Dorian (and Bull?), Cassandra (if romanced and Divine, what happens?), Josephine, the Well? So, i'm just curious to see how the story will manage to bypass these decisions, so it makes sense in every scenario.
I was initially disappointed. But im over it. Most of the big stuff is either resolved, or not really impactful to a story thats 10 years later and hundreds of miles away, with a team of mostly new characters.. The keep is still there. Our own worlds and choices are still there, and can be picked up in future. Its also possible that stuff we say ingame will add to the world state. Maybe a grey warden has opportunity to say in dialogue whether the HOF cured the calling. Maybe a veil jumper has opportunity to say they found someone escaping the fade, etc. As long as choices have big consequences in this game, im ok with less stuff carrying over. To quote god howard: Devs can do anything! But they cant do everything
Me too. As a game dev myself I understand the crazy undertaking it would be to include every choice from every game. and I want this one to be big for ROOK. the fact the inquisitor is back is awesome to me. and i know theyll mention things from the past. I do wish i got to see Dorian but it is what it is XD
This was a great and thoughtful video! I agree with you, and I think the way you pointed out the differences between how Mass Effect approaches persistent stories and how Dragon Age has done it was very insightful. I think ME was able to do more because it was the same protagonist, so there was that baseline consistency that really made it feel like more weight could be placed on past choices. With DA, each game has a different protagonist, so if they spent much time on choices made by past characters they would ultimately take away from the new character's story. It's a balancing act that the two series have had to approach in significantly different ways. I've always loved the little asides and codex entries that reflected what I'd done in Origins or II, but you're right: they were superficial. I would rather have whatever choices that are carried forward be impactful, so I am fine with the decision to narrow it down to just the 3 we're getting in Veilguard. And who knows? With some creative approaches to the dialogue, we may actually end up with more references than we're expecting right now. It's sleight-of-hand really, but it's possible they may be able to write about some things in ways that would take into account the range of possible past outcomes without directly stating any of them. If they can pull that off, then haven't they accomplished the goal? I know it wouldn't satisfy everyone, but if it's done well, I think they could work some magic. If not, then oh well. I played the three games, my characters exist in my head along with all their great deeds, and when I boot up Veilguard I'm going to be looking forward to getting to know Rook's story, anyway. I can't wait!
Agree with everything you said. I get that it's disappointing but I understand why they limited the choices and why those 3 are the relevant ones. I would rather them not take time and resources to think of cameos and write codexes to account for all the various world states that can exist.
@@fliplife67 How so? I mean I figured whomever your inquisitor romances will have an effect because it is one of the three choices you get regarding the inquisitor.
@@fliplife67 So with the world state choices the romances for Inquisitor are still race and gender locked, so only a female elf inquisitor could have a romanced Solas. A male inquisitor can still be gay, but their romance options were Dorian or Iron Bull.
![A Matter of Choice in Dragon Age [veilguard-spoilers]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/vMmaIkr10Lg/mqdefault.jpg)
Realising none of the choices matter in the end hurts more in a franchise that made you think choices matter.
But Inquisiion already had a default worldstate for people who didn't have keep set up or didn't have their original saves.
For me at least the default was my first experience and it didn't change much, i enjoyed it.
The only thing i felt i was missing out on was Morrigans son, since he isn't considered canon by default.
Veilguard (or any game/movie/book) should be able to stand on it's own without references and 'memberberries.
1) They're not going to know or care if we sided with the mages or the templars.
A society of mages that was actively meddling in Southern politics isn't going to care if they have a new country of mages or a country of people hostile to mages? Yes, they're going to care. They're going to care a lot the way China cares if another country turns communist. It does not have to directly affect the game. But they're going to care.
2) They're not going to care if Hawke got left in the fade.
THEY won't. VARRIC does. Like, oodles he cares about that decision. That really directly impacts his character. And Bioware chose to use him in the player party again. They didn't have to use Varric. They could have done something else to get a clean slate, focus on Harding or something. But they didn't. And then they do this.
3) They're not going to care who rules Orlais
Again, politics is important. They're going to care at least a little bit because they have a boarder with Orlais, and who is on the throne, the expansionist Gaspard or the diplomatic Celine, makes a huge difference in if they're at war or not.
4) They don't care who is Divine
Probably not. I don't think any of our picks would cause a policy change. Navarra would care if it's Cassandra.
5) Cameos from Allistair.
I agree. We do not need another cameo at this moment. However, considering he might be King or might be a Gray Warden leader, erasing him entirely from the world so that he may never return is a bit much.
The problem is that with the current system you're arguing that they don't car right now, whereas with Bioware's erasing of world states, they're never going to care again, and that seems unreasonable.
They don't have to USE every last detail in the present game, they should just continue to track it in the keep. That was the purpose of the keep.
Differences as set dressing:
While there are other quests in DA:II that are minor and dependent on DA:O, I will agree that the changes are largely set dressing. But that's only because Bioware hasn't dug in and done the work to make them anything else. Because they don't have to be set dressing if they didn't want them to be. That's a skill problem on Bioware's part, not an argument to suddenly make all choices meaningless.
Since Morrigan and the inquisitor are in the game the well of sorrows choice should matter even if it just means one of them just has more knowledge to help your rook
@@tredeen97 I fully agree with that like I said in the video, I’m not entirely happy with the choices. The well of sorrows is one of the things I really wish was addressed.
It never bothered me that we only get three choices, and you really put into words my feelings as to why. 🙌
At least do the well of sorrows and the fade choice and the mage or Templar’s etc from inquisition? Like This is the only news that I’m devastated by. It’s a literal betrayal to fans who have been with them since the beginning. I didn’t care about the top surgery BS. I care about the fact that they’re forcing our character to be a stereotypical hero and removing our ability to play around with blood magic or moral ambiguity which is what DA is all about. All the past games have literally already been LGBT dating simulators. But… why wouldn’t they do what inquisition did? And have a base world state for new players. And a customizable one for everyone else. I mean you had ten years to figure it out. They were supposed to resolve a cure for the Blight and who we sent into the fade and tie up the amazing story we all fell in love with. This is just cheap. They just wanted to make a brand new game under the title of dragon age. Which is the EXACT SAME mistake they made with Mass effect andromeda. These people were only concerned with making the game woke when it’s already a woke af game that confronts real world issues and dark themes. Also the fact that now Kieran may or may not be the wardens son, idk how they’re going to adress that or the thing with Mythal, removing feminine curves, (when I saw morrigan with no. Cleavage I gasped in offended woman
ok snowflake, whine some more about the optional top surgery scars and the fact that it's always been 'woke' and included queer characters.
We have no idea how the story is going to go so all of the choices your referencing could have no effect for example if they kill the inquisitor early and Morrigan leaves then the well of sorrows has no effect.
In every game you are the hero you might be a dick about it but you are the hero.
The big problem is the lack of forward thinking in the previous game they could bring our choices back in meaningless ways OR you would have a completely different game from start to finish based on your choices. Which would cost tons of time, money and effect to make all of these choices impactful so I'd rather them avoid them and focus those resources on making the current game better.
There's no way you're drawing a connection between the games being "woke" and the decision of which choices carry over the fuck. Top surgery is not "BS" neither are queer romances and characters. These are actual real things in the real world unlike the magical well that binds you to a fantasy god. Regardless, there is no connection there. Inclusivity does not stand in the way of making a good game nor any type of media for that matter.
Also, brand new game? When the whole thing is set up around a character from inquisition? be real
Was following until you lost your cool and your mind.
my assumption for any carry over previous playthroughs is their pertinence, there are some things that seem to confuse me, for instance if your inquisitor drank from the well of sorrows or not, but assuming thats not apart of the questions asked then it probably has no pertinence to the story, certainly alot of what occurs in da:i doesnt have to do with what will happen in veilguard,
but youre right as well alot what is asked doesn't really matter, trying to make all the extra choices meaningful in veilguard would be such a titanic undertaking and i dont blame them for avoiding that
If my choices don't mean anything neither does the game I am done
Wasn't the god the water bound you to Morrigan's mom? Solas killed her at the end of the game, perhaps that is why it didn't matter?
Perhaps, but I and a lot of people don't think Mythal is really dead. We will see though, it was just emphasized so much in Inquisition. But maybe it just doesn't matter for this specific story.
A calm and thoughtfull video about DA:V? What? It's actually possible? Amazing !
I agree with most of it. It was disapointing to hear that only three past choices will affect the story of DA:V. But yes, very few choices from DA:O and DA2 actually had an impact, if you ignore all the codex entries.
Zevran, Leliana, Morrigan (and Kieran), Alistair, Nathaniel, Loghain and the Warden can appear later, even in table missions, depending on your choices, but could DA:I be written without considering these choices? Absolutly. These choices would have been ignored : No info on Kieran and Warden from Morrigan, no cameo from Alistair, only Stroud...ect...
But DA:V is set in a different region of the world, years later, so appart from Solas and the Inquisitor, there's no real connection between DA:I and DA:V. So who cares about the "False" Divine from the South, who's the Emperor of Orlais or if the Wardens are banned from the South. It doesn't seem pertinent in the new context anyway. And even if i would have loved to see some old faces, i'm also really into diving into new lore from North Thedas.
Still, it means other things will be missing and/or not mentioned in DA:V that could have been pertinent. For exemple : Dorian (and Bull?), Cassandra (if romanced and Divine, what happens?), Josephine, the Well? So, i'm just curious to see how the story will manage to bypass these decisions, so it makes sense in every scenario.
I was initially disappointed. But im over it. Most of the big stuff is either resolved, or not really impactful to a story thats 10 years later and hundreds of miles away, with a team of mostly new characters.. The keep is still there. Our own worlds and choices are still there, and can be picked up in future.
Its also possible that stuff we say ingame will add to the world state. Maybe a grey warden has opportunity to say in dialogue whether the HOF cured the calling. Maybe a veil jumper has opportunity to say they found someone escaping the fade, etc.
As long as choices have big consequences in this game, im ok with less stuff carrying over.
To quote god howard: Devs can do anything! But they cant do everything
Me too. As a game dev myself I understand the crazy undertaking it would be to include every choice from every game. and I want this one to be big for ROOK. the fact the inquisitor is back is awesome to me. and i know theyll mention things from the past. I do wish i got to see Dorian but it is what it is XD
Thank you so much for this video. I agree completely.
I wish more people could see your video it’s so needed.
I agree with this opinion
This was a great and thoughtful video! I agree with you, and I think the way you pointed out the differences between how Mass Effect approaches persistent stories and how Dragon Age has done it was very insightful. I think ME was able to do more because it was the same protagonist, so there was that baseline consistency that really made it feel like more weight could be placed on past choices. With DA, each game has a different protagonist, so if they spent much time on choices made by past characters they would ultimately take away from the new character's story. It's a balancing act that the two series have had to approach in significantly different ways. I've always loved the little asides and codex entries that reflected what I'd done in Origins or II, but you're right: they were superficial. I would rather have whatever choices that are carried forward be impactful, so I am fine with the decision to narrow it down to just the 3 we're getting in Veilguard. And who knows? With some creative approaches to the dialogue, we may actually end up with more references than we're expecting right now. It's sleight-of-hand really, but it's possible they may be able to write about some things in ways that would take into account the range of possible past outcomes without directly stating any of them. If they can pull that off, then haven't they accomplished the goal? I know it wouldn't satisfy everyone, but if it's done well, I think they could work some magic. If not, then oh well. I played the three games, my characters exist in my head along with all their great deeds, and when I boot up Veilguard I'm going to be looking forward to getting to know Rook's story, anyway. I can't wait!
Agree with everything you said. I get that it's disappointing but I understand why they limited the choices and why those 3 are the relevant ones. I would rather them not take time and resources to think of cameos and write codexes to account for all the various world states that can exist.
I'd also rather have those resources get poured into the current game than referencing the older games.
So it sounds like the male inquisitor can be gay.
Yes. That has always been an option for a male inquisitor to have homosexual love interests.
@@ThistleLP U do understand how much this will change the game.
@@fliplife67 How so? I mean I figured whomever your inquisitor romances will have an effect because it is one of the three choices you get regarding the inquisitor.
@@ThistleLP The choice of romance is if U dated solis.
@@fliplife67 So with the world state choices the romances for Inquisitor are still race and gender locked, so only a female elf inquisitor could have a romanced Solas. A male inquisitor can still be gay, but their romance options were Dorian or Iron Bull.