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A bigger script doesn't necessarily mean a better RPG, but a huge amount of dialogue can suggest that the RPG in question offers a lot of depth. We're hoping that's the case with Dragon Age: The Veilguard, as developer BioWare has commented on the sheer number of lines that it's recorded for the upcoming adventure.
For reference, 2014's Dragon Age: Inquisition came in at around 88,000 lines of dialogue — but The Veilguard is promising a monstrous 140,000. That's according to creative creative performance director Ashley Barlow, who slapped some figures down with GamesRadar.
"We started casting five years ago. The team, the talent has been on for five years," Barlow reveals, emphasising the scope of the game's script. "It takes a long time to record 700 characters, you know - 80,000 lines or 140,000 lines with all the Rooks. It just takes time to make good."
Yep, that's 140,000 lines of dialogue spread across 700 characters. Of course, we imagine that many of these characters will be your standard environmental NPCs who offer up casual thoughts, but it's still starting to sound quite ambitious.
Indeed, BioWare has consistently highlighted its character-driven approach to The Veilguard. The studio says that it's put a clear focus on your party members, and there's no doubt that they'll be responsible for a lot of this dialogue.
We'll have to wait and see just how deep the title goes when it comes to stuff like branching story paths and character relationships, but again, with so much writing behind it, we can (cautiously) assume that the game is built with unique-feeling playthroughs in mind.
How high are your hopes for Dragon Age: The Veilguard? Imagine the possibilities in the comments section below.
[source gamesradar.com, via eurogamer.net]
Comments 23
Remember the dialogue from the trailer they showed us... It was like a bad action movie and with a potential to be a dumpster fire. At least wait for reviews if you have already forgotten the footage they have already shown to us, people.
and then there was this:
"this door is protected by a powerful magic"
@Ravix Did we watch the same trailers? I thought it looked pretty good (Aside from the heroes trailer). But I agree people should always wait for reviews. However nothing I saw suggested "it's going to be a dumpster fire", that just reads like lame internet hyperbole. Guess we'll have to wait a few months to find out.
I'm still not buying it at launch. Maybe when it's on sale i will get it for curiosity sake.
@themightyant the dialogue had no realism, it was just random statements made one after another with no logical conversation in mind.
As always, I'm happy to be wrong, and that will be a positive for the game if I am, but everything I've seen so far is just giving me red flags about it, and their presence trying to convince people it's this special thing just seems off. It doesn't sound like devs who are proud by their game, it sounds like people trying to convince us (and maybe even themselves) that it is good. It almost seems like a desperation in that they need to trick people into buying it, rather than rely on normal marketing techniques.
Dragon age the veilguard gameplay looks incredible.2014 game of the year dragon age inquisition was excellent.word up son
I'm definitely going to get this one; probably twice, too. Absolutely loved Inquisition - far more than 2 and Origins.
All 3 Dragon Age games so far have had some great writing and fantastic squad banter (especially DA2) so I'm hoping that Veilguard continues that trend.
I only hope that they bring back the cinematic camera for conversations and not that zoomed out view when talking to npcs like in Inquisition/Andromeda.
@Ravix We all like different things. You don't have to be "wrong", both can be "right". I just didn't get any of the same vibes you did. But it was a very scripted set piece, and I really want to see more normal gameplay scenarios to get a better judgment of the full game.
I don't understand what you are saying, @Ravix, as it makes no sense! The developers talking about their game does not mean that they are trying to convince themselves that the game is good. Developers talk about their games in order to convince us that it is a product worth buying. It's called promotion, and is something that pretty much every developer does about every game. Even Gollum had the developers promoting the game. It's a necessary part of game development process, it is not a sign that the developers have no confidence in their product...
@Fiendish-Beaver the way they are doing it seems more forced, to me. Nothing to do with anything else, It's just a vibe I'm getting, no more. I wish i'd not bothered 😂😂😂
People, just ignore Ravix - as I have - as he's obviously a bit of a troll. He doesn't like the game - I get that - but then he should just leave it alone instead of coming up with such.. weird and childish comments.
Veilguard and Concord need to invest in some co-marketing.
@Ravix Sadly it works. Keep telling people through expensive channels that a thing is super amazing and super special and truly an exceptional occurrence, and no matter how bad it is, people will believe that it truly stands above. How do they know this? Because they saw everywhere that it was!
@playstation1995 Very much agree. I love Inquisition. Definitely had a lot of MMO-style bloat that a lot of games had back then (and now), but the story itself was great. Loved the lore deep-dive with the origins of the Fade. I'm very excited to see the dynamic of having a former companion as the villain. Plenty of people are harping on the art direction for Veilguard (I would personally prefer the more realistic style of Inquisition), but it's definitely not a deal-breaker for me. DA2 had a pretty cartoony style as well and it worked just fine.
Number of lines doesn't tell me much, it has to be quality dialogue - or have we all forgotten Forspoken? Neither the gameplay reveal and certainly not the character trailers have been compelling for me. I desperately want to be wrong as I want to see an epic finale to a series I first started playing more than a decade ago with DA:O.
@wildcat_kickz. Dragon age the veilguard is one of the best looking games i ever saw.did you see the gameplay.it was excellent.dragon age inquisition still looks really good.word up son
@UntilRespawn Decade and a half (throws up in mouth).
@playstation1995 I thought the gameplay and the world's architectural style both look great. I'm just not wild about the new character and enemy designs; it seems a bit more Saturday-cartoony than the previous games, which seems at odds with the thematic material. That said, I'm very pumped for this game and am gonna get it day one, regardless.
I am pretty sure Russian hackers repurposed a Redfall trailer into the trailer we somehow got on Veilguard, besides this very important factoid I have completely forgotten about that demo and its god awful art direction.
Ever since, the marketing and media coverage has painted the Veilguard in the best light possible. I will forget about the combat system as it looks good, but isn't to my liking per say.
The small game play clip was gorgeous and the news about the sheer amount of dialogue is riveting.
There's 4 (four!!) voices for the protagonist alone, so that's where all the dialogue goes. Don't think this is traditional Dragon Age in that sense. We are introduced to Erika Ishii as one of the choices and this person has a great voice and good experience as a VA. The person identifies as some sort of fluid or juice, which is a bit boring to someone like me who identifies as a combat Apache helikopter with all weapon systems online, but who actually cares with massive talent like that in only the person's voice!?
I am intrigued to hear the three other choices, but Ishii will definitely be part of one of my playthroughs.
Didn’t starfield have a large script and look how quickly that game was forgotten
I do hope that this game turns out well since I love Dragon Age. I do wish EA would do a collection of the first 3 games at some point since it would make a lot of sense.
I do worry that the combat might get repetitive since you can't switch characters in this game, which to me is kind of a shocking choice. You can switch characters in the first 3 games , don't know why they would take it out now.
Quality over quantity
Almost as much as Homestuck
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