The Dragon Age series has long allowed players to import choices between games to maintain a consistent world state. Dragon Age: The Veilguard will be no different, but it sounds like it will change up its approach, which previously required either directly importing a save file or using a tool Bioware created in advance of Inquisition’s release ten years ago.
In an interview with IGN, director Corinne Busche explained that players will be able to import choices through the character creator, rather than by directly importing a save file or using the Dragon Age Keep app that lets you tweak your choices and world state. This will also include the chance to recreate their protagonist from Dragon Age: Inquisition, who will appear in The Veilguard, though you’ll be controlling Rook, a new protagonist for this game.
“What’s not lost on us is that it’s been 10 years since existing players have played,” Busche told IGN. “They might not remember [what they did in previous games]…They might need that refresher and we don’t want new players to feel like they’re missing out on those decisions. So in the character creator, I like to call it ‘Last Time on Dragon Age,’ but you can go into your past adventures and it, actually through tarot cards, tells you what the context was and what decision you want to make.”
Busche explained the decision was made to not import save data this time around because “technology is so different and [BioWare] wanted it to be in the client.” That makes sense given Dragon Age: Inquisition is 10 years old and was played on old hardware. I’d also be surprised if a lot of those decisions tracked by Keep will factor into The Veilguard. So maybe as novel as it was, it’s just simpler to give players a menu to pick the decisions that will play into things rather than importing everything.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is coming to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S this fall, and takes a notably more action-oriented approach with combat than the series has ever had. It does sound, though, like the focus on characters and relationship-building with your party is still at the forefront.
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