Dragon Age is worrying me

 

In the manner most befitting a product of it's calibre- 'Dragon Age The Veil- whatever' is doing it's publicity tour- courting around the various internet outlets with handpicked snippets of information and maybe a screenshot here or there- all to try and make sure the Dragon Age fanbase is as engaged as they can be for the drop of that game we're all to be playing. At some point. And through it all, the lights, the glamour, the glitz, I can't shake this twisting churning un the root of my guts coiling into a walnut at the sight of it all. Not excitement. Not anticipation. Not burning hot desire. Just an inner roiling, like intestinal bracing for some impending strike. Whether it's the buzzing of reason or the tides of my heart- Dragon Age is worrying me.

Now to be very clear- I am actually a huge Dragon Age fan. Back in the dark ages of Western RPGs, Origins would be a practically bi-monthly playthrough for me, as I went over the most cinematic order in which to complete events, the fulfilling narrative journey across an origin story and the most cathartic endings to pursue. I saw that original game like a canvass upon which to write my journey, which is a sensation I haven't experienced in any other RPG since until Baldur's Gate 3- not even in subsequent Dragon Age games. That being said I still very much liked Dragon Age 2's more sit-com-esque situation-of-the-week approach to the story, and although the execution was a bit messy the more traditional 'epic adventure spanning several regions' presentation of Inquisition was cool. Not cool enough to make me stick through the game and finish it. Yes, I never finished Inquisition. Sue me.

What I'm trying to say is: I appreciate that it is uniquely Bioware's style to create vastly different feeling RPG games when it comes to the Dragon Age franchise and that is part of what draws me in. You never really know what you're getting from game to game and it allows totally different experiences to be brought forth. But then, I also know the inherent danger of playing 'spin the wheel' like that- for losing exactly what it was that made the last few games hit. Sometimes you miss the tone, sometimes the framing devices don't sit quite so snuggly around the narrative you've inherited, and sometimes you forget to make an RPG for your RPG franchise. Yeah, that last one is a real kicker, ain't it? But that isn't what I want to talk about today. Today I want to talk about marketing.

Everything we hear about The Veilguard from now until launch, barring any potential leaks, is marketing. Materials put out by the creators and publishers to drum up interest, build expectation and amass the kind of audience they think will best engage with this game. When we're looking at a product which so distinctly does not represent the Dragon Age we've come to know and love, both tonally and in terms of gameplay, maybe by analysing the marketing material some nugget of truth about what game they're even building here, or who they're building it for, might elucidate upon us.  And to that end... I'm kinda getting Mass Effect Andromeda vibes here guys... Ain't exactly the best model for success to follow. (Even though I maintain that Andromeda was over-hated.)

Marketing is all about scoring those big moments of interest, those things that will draw in the eyes and make everyone go 'oooh!'- but I think for this game that big moment was supposed to be the gameplay drop and that- well, it didn't really do anything for me. Andromeda also focused on the gameplay, a lot of games do, but Andromeda at least had the Jetpack to show off. Dragon Age has less tactical prowess to show off. Less role playing potential. Less depth in a gaming world slowly opening up to the potential of gameplay systemic depth. This feels like a franchise in the midst of a backslide that may have incorrectly predicted the trajectory of the industry- and that's a little heartbreaking to be honest.

In the throes of questionable marketing choices Andromeda will always stand out for me for at least the point at which they (I believe it was the publishers rather than the development team, the details escape me) bragged about the quality of the sex scenes. And I remember thinking just how odd that was. Now bear in mind- I'm not so American-coded opinionist who shudders "corrupting immortality" at the mere mention of sexuality within gaming- I respect the capacity of sex and sexuality within this medium and think that is actually a underexplored aspect of art. (Not that I have any clue how one would actually explore that effectively.) But what in the heck did any of that have to do with Mass Effect? Who rocks up to Mass Effect rubbing the hands hoping the animation team really knocked it out the park on the sex scenes? No one, that's who!

Veilgaurd hasn't slipped quite that out of touch yet. Recently a Bioware veteran who is currently consulting on the game, (proof that the Bioware of old isn't completely absent from the project as some insist.) Mark Darrah has gone on record insisting that this game finally hones in on 'telling stories through their characters'- which both sounds promising and perplexing to my ears. On one hand we have to admit- Bioware gives us hosts of memorable characters who are at their best when they are allowed to interact directly with the main narrative, as best exampled in Mass Effect 2. (He brings up Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 as examples in his point which kind of offers wisps of a rose-tinted recollection. Baldur's Gate 2 sure did exemplify this at times, but 1's cast often felt woefully disconnected from core events in a frustrating way.) On the otherhand- you would really expect a focus on the importance of characters within this world would extend into gameplay- and the fact that we're not really seeing that feels like a bit of a disconnect between story and game. A real 'Ludonarrative dissonance', as opposed to the vapidly buzz-word manner in which that term is typically employed.

Dragon Age worries me. And it worries me because I care. Or cared. I still do, I think, but not quite to the degree I once did. I think Dragon Age has compromised itself narratively over the years in the manner that all these franchises with tunnel vision tend to do (don't get started with Star Wars and the amount of narrative contradictions) but I engage fully with the world of the games at least. And if Veilgaurd isn't the triumphant return to form that I think this franchise really needs to stand out in a world of genuinely highclass and rising contemporary fiction- I don't know if there'll be space left for me to continue caring in the future. And that's a shame.

Dragon Age makes me a sad panda

 

With the recent reveal of 'Dragon Age: The Veilguard', (I feel like people are ignoring how abrasive a 'the' can be in your product's title) I am saddened to report that my misgivings regarding the direction of modern Bioware have not been abated. In fact, if anything they've been lionized into a depressing colation of the reality that the famous studio we once loved is looking paranoid and now is spiralling. I once loved Bioware, and some part of me still wants to believe in them- I want them to win me over but it seems the world has left them behind when it comes to RPGs, and now they've left RPGs behind in kind- leaving me wondering what it is this Studio even endeavours to be anymore. If they're not an RPG studio, what even are they? Just developers? The Bioware I knew would have never been content with such a position! But they're not here anymore... are they?

Obviously the worst aspect of the reveal was that initial trailer which, quite rightly, set alarm bells ringing across the reaction world. I wasn't aware of Dragon Age being 'Dark Fantasy' as people apparently say, I took Origins as grim but not excessively, intentionally disturbing or frightening- but I do agree that Dragon Age has a tendency to treat it's world with a general mature passion which heightens the stakes at their most dire. The Veilguard's descent into hero shooter peppiness with Suicide Squad intro cards, soft rock backing tracks, one-line epithets describing surface deep quirkiness and, most importantly, terrible sound mixing so Varrick's voice is drowned out by the music- kind of felt like the people in charge had absolutely no idea what made the franchise work. They seem to have fallen for the memes which claim that the only reason we come to Dragon Age, or any Bioware game, is to meet and romance their collective cast. But to be honest, Bioware romances haven't exactly gotten any more interesting since Mass Effect 2- (Andromeda tried something unique, but people didn't respond to that game very well.) and after Baldur's Gate 3: this cast has quite the uphill struggle to enter the poppy zeitgeist. 

In particular I think it's the designs that are throwing off the general public. Dragon Age has never quite gone for the 'true to life' character meta which ages so poorly as game fidelity doubles every other generation, and I find that to be a strength of their art direction- even as they do objectively improve in the visual department. But something about Veilgaurd's character designs appear to veer towards overtly exaggerated features that flow out into Overwatch levels of cartoony. All the new monster designs we've seen thus far, such as those new 'Darkspawn' we glimpsed, looked out-of-proportion and goofy. I shouldn't be seeing a bone monster and think 'Goofy'! And don't get me started on that Alfred Pennyworth in Doctor Strange cosplay-lookin' fella! That man looks like a Fortnite character- his facial proportions look like they've been mangled by the Mandibular Rearranger from The Outer Worlds! He looks terrible!

Of course, as everyone who took the time to actually go and watch the recently revealed gameplay will tell you- the actual in-play action seems to be a lot better than what was teased. It's all very slick and cinematic action set-piece with flashy and exciting combat and glittering particles and the Frostbite engine weeping sadly in the background. The face to face dynamic camera actions also look vastly improved, which may be due to handcrafted angles explicit to the main dialogues or maybe intensive work on the AI to teach it more coherent camera-man philosophies- either way it's working and this game is coveting the same sort of cinematic flair that sang for Baldur's Gate 3. Unfortunately that is the only positive comparison to that game I could make.

One of my favourite aspects about watching the Dragon Age Franchise grow was measuring how cinematic the game became whilst wrestling with keeping the tactical RPG elements alive- and until the this very game that seemed to be a balance they took very seriously. This time around what we have is an action slasher with abilities, no character switching and totally eradicated tactical planning whatsoever. Even in the most ludicrous moments of Inquisition, there were the bigger dragon fights where you would plant members of your team in the right places, place the built tank to draw attention whilst your damage dealers weaved around the legs and the healer tried to keep everyone standing. Team composition was essential. This game has already gutted the total party size from 4 to 3. They took the 'RPG' out of my RPG franchise.

In many ways it reminds me of what happened with the Final Fantasy VII Remake as retold by someone with literally no ability to comprehend what they're playing. FF7R got rid of the ATB based combat of FF7 original in favour of action combat- however the spirit of what that combat imparted- real-time combat with abilities, was imbued into the spirit of the game so that even if a different genre was being tickled, the RPG heart of the original lived on. Veilgaurd doesn't even appear to feature healthbars for your party members! And enemies, at least in what we've seen, don't aggro on companions at all. And health potions are not rationed out carefully at campfires, or brought in town- they pop out of cartoon green barrels. This doesn't feel like a mainline Dragon Age, it feels like an action-themed spin-off.

By and large, Dragon Age: The Veilgaurd hasn't really shown off anything to show lessons learned from Inquisition thus far. The biggest issues of the last game were based around the design of their world and story progression, which Veilgaurd's intro completely avoids by setting itself purely in the intro act- and the combat looks utterly guttered and simplified to the level of a toddler. They turned Dragon Age into Mass Effect- but then again, even Mass Effect gave you companions that can draw aggro and pass out! So whilst some out there are clapping their hands and declaring that Bioware have pulled optics back in their favour- for me I'm actually more worried that the team have killed the last piece of RPG magic that studio still had.