Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Rook Misses What Made Past BioWare Protagonists Great

After a rocky decade-long development, Dragon Age: The Veilguard was finally released to the excitement of many fans. While Veilguard has been received with mostly positive reviews and sales, the newest entry in the Dragon Age franchise is far from being without flaws. A common and valid criticism is the limitations on roleplaying freedom in Veilguard, with the player character, Rook, missing elements that made past BioWare protagonists so memorable.

This isn’t the first time BioWare has faced criticism over a lackluster protagonist, with fans having a similar reaction to Dragon Age: Inquisition. While both protagonists share similar traits, the Inquisitor still provides players with more freedom in how to tackle decision-making and roleplay mechanics. While many players are still enjoying Veilguard‘s world and its colorful cast of companions, the protagonist, Rook, is not likely to be missed by fans looking back at Veilguard‘s storyline.

Roleplaying Rook Isn’t As Fun As It Could Be

Streamlined Dialogue Options That Take Away Player Freedom

One of the biggest changes from previous BioWare entries is Veilguard‘s removal of evil player choices and streamlined morality-based dialogue options. While the multiple-tone options are still present within the game’s dialogue wheel, most of Veilguard‘s player decisions feel far too similar without any significant consequences or actual choices involved. While this streamlined narrative ensures players are kept on track with the story and don’t miss any additional content, it takes away much of the freedom that made playing BioWare games so enjoyably immersive in the first place.

Despite the lackluster reception to Veilguard‘s newest protagonist, the latest entry doesn’t break away too far from the longstanding traditions of the franchise. Much like most previous Dragon Age entries aside from Origins, Veilguard‘s Rook has a somewhat predefined character and background that players wanting to roleplay will have to work around. While this prevents complete freedom for players to mold their Veilguard protagonist into the image they want, it’s more in line with the traditional Dragon Age experience that fans expect.

Rook’s personality in Veilguard plays into the rebellious nature of their background, as most of them involve Rook being kicked out of a faction over their behavior, which can still be fun. The main problems arise during dialogue sections, as players can also choose between being nice, sarcastic, or stern, but often the spoken dialogue tends to be a more watered-down version. This lack of consistency is frustrating when the dialogue choices do not reflect what Rook ends up saying, with their lines often coming off as overly Stoic or snarky, regardless of which is chosen.

Where Veilguard falters in comparison to other BioWare games is that Rook’s unique personality just isn’t compelling enough to take away player-defined characters, especially when compared to the iconic and memorable protagonists the developer has previously offered.

Past BioWare Protagonists Were More Memorable

Rook Is A Watered-Down Version Of BioWare’s Unique Character Molds

Veilguard‘s protagonist problems are most glaring when compared to past BioWare games, most notably with Commander Shepard from the beloved Mass Effect​​​​​ games. Shepard finds the perfect balance between a fleshed-out individual character that still allows for the extreme moral choices granted by the trilogy’s Paragon and Renegade options. Even Dragon Age: Inquisition struggled with similar complaints as Veilguard‘s Rook, but players still had the option to make objectively cruel or just decisions depending on the kind of character they wanted to experience.

Related

Dragon Age: The Veilguard Continues One Of The Series’ Biggest Problems

While Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a revival of the series after a 10-year wait, it also manages to repeat one of the flaws of the previous games.

Even a more controversial protagonist, like Hawke from Dragon Age 2, was fleshed out in more interesting ways than Veilguard‘s Rook, leaning more heavily into a predefined character. While this divided the fanbase for being a departure from the foundation laid by Origins, Hawke was an interesting character in his own right who is still a fan favorite among many players.

While it makes sense for BioWare to choose a safer middle ground after so many years since the last Dragon Age release, Hawke’s popularity proved that a more unique protagonist can fit excellently into a Dragon Age game when written with an interesting concept in mind. Even Dragon Age: Inquisition‘s protagonist, who had the same complaints as Rook from Veilguard, allowed players to do drastically more evil and interesting actions than the standard tonal decisions offered by Rook.

Despite Veilguard‘s issues, Rook still stands as a serviceable insert for the game’s narrative, offering players a cohesive experience that often takes much fewer risks than previous entries. While Rook lacks the edge of previous protagonists, they fit more in line with the story that the developers wanted to tell, while still offering the climactic decision-based conclusion the franchise is known for.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard Is An Awkward Middle Ground

Lacking The Identity Needed To Make It Stand Out

During moments where players get to make life-or-death decisions, Rook’s choices are often different varieties of morally just decisions, giving players just enough freedom to leave them wanting more from the protagonist. One of the more drastic instances is where players can choose to leave a corrupt NPC to their well-deserved fate or rescue them in hopes of changing their ways. Compared to previous Dragon Age titles, this decision is much less significant, with players having various options to affect the fates of multiple NPCs, companions, and factions throughout each story.

Unfortunately, Veilguard‘s tonal problems extend past the protagonist, as the world attempts to ride the line between more quippy lighthearted humor and grim fantasy without fully satisfying fans of either genre. Much party infighting was also drastically toned down in Veilguard, with companions having disagreements over trivial problems that don’t give Rook’s personality a chance to take the spotlight when compared to past titles. It was even possible to kill NPCs and companions in past Dragon Age titles like Dragon Age 2 or Origins, but this was mostly removed by the release of Inquisition, which carried over into Veilguard.

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Dragon Age: Veilguard Not Having DLC Is A Great News For Mass Effect Fans

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is not getting any DLC, which is amazing news for those who’ve been patiently waiting for the next Mass Effect.

The most common sentiment surrounding Veilguard, and one that seems to get to the heart of the issue, is that it’s a good game on its own, but struggles with its identity as a true Dragon Age installment. While it’s clear Veilguard has the foundations to make for a compelling story and gameplay if given the chance in a future DLC expansion, these hopes have unfortunately been squashed as BioWare changes its focus toward the next Mass Effect release.

While Dragon Age: The Veilguard fans hoping for more content about their favorite characters will be disheartened by the news, it’s easy to understand why the developers would want to move on to new horizons after such a lengthy development cycle.

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is the fourth entry in the Dragon Age franchise and a sequel to 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition. A classic character, Solas, will return as the new game’s antagonist. The game will retain many of the series’ staples, such as multiple dialogue options, party choices, romantic options, and more. Dreadwolf will act as the first direct sequel in the Dragon Age franchise.

Released

October 31, 2024

Developer(s)

BioWare

Publisher(s)

Electronic Arts

Engine

Frostbite

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ // Blood, Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Violence

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