In keeping with BioWare tradition, Dragon Age: The Veilguard will let you get entangled in steamy, unprofessional workplace relationships with your colleagues at Veilguard Inc. The studio is also expanding on two lesser-discussed aspects of the companion romances from previous games: they’ll be able to pursue relationships with each other, independent of the player, and as hinted at in the recent Veilguard preview event, you’ll be able to either support or hinder these budding dalliances.
“It just seemed right to give them the ability to romance each other as well as romance other characters,” said John Epler, imaginative director of The Veilguard. “We never want companions to feel like they’re just there for Rook, just there for the protagonist, they should always feel like real people.”
Corinne Busche, game director for The Veilguard, explained how this reinforces the “found family” fantasy feel that BioWare’s companions have always been so good at evoking: “We’ve all been around that friend: they’ve fallen in love with someone, you can experience that joy, that new energy of the relationship that they go through, and being able to experience that and see it manifest among your companions is, in many ways, as joyful and exciting as your own relationships.”
Although Busche also noted that it wasn’t all roses: The potential for love triangles and other conflicts could add some captivating tension. “When you have companions who are interested in each other,” Busche said, “it makes those choices, how you interact with them, what you give them, a lot more difficult.”
Busche mentioned the possibility of our own intervention in these relationships in response to the question of whether we would be able to sabotage these social affairs: “I don’t want to spoil anything,” Busche cautioned, “but they may come to you for advice, and I can’t guarantee that you’ll give them good advice.”
I can’t wait to see how this plays out in The Veilguard, especially since it’s an area where BioWare could really stand out from Larian in terms of the fantastic adventure companions in Baldur’s Gate 3. The cast of that game could be much more energetic and three-dimensional, with more interaction between the parties outside of the player’s control – the early conflicts between Shadowheart and Lae’zel, and Karlach and Wyll, could be fleshed out in a similar way that BioWare does.
There are hints of how this could play out in The Veilguard from previous BioWare games: Garrus and Tali could have met in Mass Effect 3, but the really captivating pairing was Aerie and Haer’Dalis in Baldur’s Gate 2. The proto-Zevran lech elf Haer’Dalis would pursue the polite, wingless, winged elf Aerie regardless of the player’s actions, potentially leading to a love triangle confrontation if you romanced Aerie yourself. It created a unique team active.
There’s also one of my favorite quests in Dragon Age 2, where you had to interrupt the city guard Aveline as she tried to seduce her associate, Donnic. A slapstick comedy of errors ensued, ending with Aveline and Donnic either getting back together or breaking up on bad terms depending on the player’s actions. If the interactions of Veilguard’s companions are anything like that great quest in Dragon Age 2, we could be in for something really special.
