Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Live Service Roots Are Obvious With Paper Thin Party Dynamics

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Companions have been a core part of since the very beginning of the series and offers an array of intriguing characters for Rook to recruit. From a Nevarran necromancer and a stoic Grey Warden to a Tevinter mage and a Qunari treasure hunter, the team Rook assembles works together perfectly as they set about saving the world. Except, they shouldn’t, and the party dynamic highlights a key aspect from previousgames that is sorely lacking.

[Warning: The following article contains spoilers for Dragon Age: The Veilguard.]

While is beautiful, it’s no secret that the game suffered from a turbulent development with the project being restarted more than once. Originally code-named “Joplin”, it was going to be heist-focused before that idea was reworked as project “Morrison” and intended to have live service components. Unfortunately, although is now a single-player experience, the echos of the live service roots linger, with the most obvious example being the party’s dynamics, which pale in comparison to previous installments.

Companions in many ways have always been the heart of any game, with the connections formed with them often putting them at the center of the fandom. While friendships did form between companions throughout the games, it was the inter-party conflicts that made traveling with them fun, interesting, and most importantly, realistic.

However, disappointingly, everyone in gets along almost immediately; and it’s boring. Companions will start chatting away happily in the Lighthouse and out in the world with no time for them to get to know each other.

As Rook forms their team, it makes sense to gather people from all across Thedas who are experts in their field. An Antivan Crow who is an expert mage assassin, a Grey Warden to combat the Blight, a Fade expert, and a dragon hunter all make perfect sense to join Rook, Neve, Harding, and Bellara. And with such a diverse group of people, coming from all corners of the world,there are bound to be some falling outs