If you’re unhappy with Dragon Age: The Veilguard, you’ve only got yourselves to blame

Yes, here I am once again banging my ‘I love Dragon Age: The Veilguard’ drum. Perhaps you’re tired of my musings about the game, in which case, you can avoid further annoyance by simply not reading. This RPG has much to unpack, especially when it comes to the fandom that loves to hate its creative choices.

This isn’t some petulant tantrum thrown by someone who can’t face the criticism deluge it's received. Instead, it’s a deep dive into how the Dragon Age community has shaped the product they now so passionately mock. Naturally, not everyone in the fandom is against the game. I’ve seen plenty of people applaud it for delivering an experience that feels like a glorious return to BioWare’s origins.

Nonetheless, there are far too many noisy fans finding fault with the very features they demanded after Inquisition. Even though it won Game of the Year in 2014, fans had plenty to moan about when it came to the award-winning instalment. As quick as they are to selectively forget this, I have the memory of an elephant.

When Inquisition launched, it was met with frustration that you couldn’t simply upload your saves from previous games. In lieu of such a feature, BioWare created The Keep. As I remarked in my review, this was an area of contention for fans, not least of all because you had to log in to make any world state changes. It wasn’t a seamless experience but a cumbersome one. And while it offered many factors to tailor to suit the story you were weaving, it felt unfair to be forced to do so when we could have just uploaded our choices from the saves we’d loving kept.

Time for another viewing of the Dragon Age: the Veilguard trailer

Fast forward to The Veilguard and The Keep is no more. But wait, this isn’t okay now. Not even remotely okay. It turns out that now there’s too few choices for us to reside over, therefore resulting in a sense of disconnection between the first three titles and The Veilguard. It’s ironic that BioWare delivered the very thing we wanted, only for us to then throw it in its face like a spoilt brat. Bearing in mind that what we did in Origins and DA2 matters little to the events of The Veilguard.

Not content in taking aim at one of the features we asked for, fans have also bemoaned the lack of racism and prejudice towards elves. Since Origins, “knife ears” has been an ugly slur thrown about like confetti. The way in which elves have been mistreated, and the way it’s impacted how NPCs view them, has been criticised. In certain situations, playing as an elf puts you at a disadvantage when compared to playing as a human; this is notable in Inquisition when you visit the Winter Palace. Your reception is lukewarm, at best, leaving you having to grind a lot harder to impress those in attendance.

You won’t hear a single “knife ears” throughout The Veilguard. Due to its removal, groups of fans have complained that there’s a significant lack of elf racism (oh, how I wish I was joking). Yet again, this isn’t accurate. Just because nobody is using a well-known slur created by the franchise doesn’t mean everyone believes the elves wonderful. Considering the discoveries made as you play through The Veilguard, it’s fair to say that the disdain for elves is still present. It’s been dampened, but not “sanitised”.

BioWare also took the time to ensure that the side quests you embark on are satisfying rather than tedious fetch and carry quests that serve no real purpose. Having played Inquisition over 10 times, I can’t begin to tell you how much I hated the Hinterlands, and the Hissing Wastes. It made the game last longer, but at the cost of sometimes losing its way in the process. Rather than forcing us to carry out pointless tasks, The Veilguard ensures each side quest has meaning, even if it’s only to bolster each faction’s reputation.

Again, this has been deemed as an unsuitable way to address the issue fans raised. They believe The Veilguard is too linear and doesn’t allow you to properly explore as much as Inquisition did. Every time BioWare acts in favour of the fandom, another metaphorical smack comes its way; it can’t win because the community keeps moving the goalposts it’s aiming for.

I could go on, for there are still a couple of damned features that further emphasise just how fickle the DA fandom is. I consider myself a part of it, though I often dislike the association. It was one of the main reasons I was dreading the launch of The Veilguard: I knew we wouldn’t be able to simply enjoy the game. This isn’t to say you can’t disagree with me, it’s merely recognition of the unfair odds that have been stacked against the game since before it was developed.

Much like the Star Wars fandom, nobody hates Dragon Age as much as its so-called fans do. We love to hate it and hate to love it. We’ve trapped ourselves in a cycle of our own making, yet we refuse to acknowledge that lest we admit some of the blame rests at our feet.