Dragon Age Narrative Designer Revealed That Originally Our Character From Origins Was to Appear in Inquisition
Once again we look behind the scenes of the development of the Dragon Age series. This time on target is the challenge of carrying over decisions from previous games and their impact on the storyline.
David Gaider, a Canadian narrative designer and writer long associated with BioWare studio, shared some of his reflections with fans on the Dragon Age series. Gaider decided to tackle very interesting (and also more difficult to implement) element of the game - transferring choices between subsequent installments of the series.
The developer explains this using the example of the storyline of Kieran (son of Morrigan), who only appears in Inquisition under certain circumstances as a result of the choices made by the player in the finale of Dragon Age: Origins. He also mentions the abandoned plans to include the Grey Warden in Inquisition who was created by the player in the first installment of the series.
Here's the thing about honouring previous game choices, from a design perspective: it's a sucker's game. What many fans picture, when you mention it, is divergent *plot* -- the story changes path based on those major choices. How exciting! But you will never be able to deliver divergent plot.
-- David Gaider
In the "developer's hell"
The warden was meant to show up as part of a quest close to the end of the game called Here Lies the Abyss. However, his place was taken by another character - Jean-Marc Stroud or, if certain conditions are met, Alistair or Loghain. How that happened? The reason for this state of affairs seems to be mostly the limited amount of resources, time, and the very question of the sense of writing a separate, alternative narrative path just to highlight the plot choice from two installments ago.
The process of writing the script for Inquisition seemed to be very chaotic. According to the dev, the vision for this particular task changed several times, and the decision to replace the Grey Warden came at the very end of the process and was probably the result of a lack of ideas for a sensible implementation of this solution into the main plot.
According to Gaider, most of the ambitious ideas have little chance of success because they simply don't pay off – especially if the new "branch" of the plot is connected to a choice that few people made in the base game (and even if they did, they may not remember it).
What do developers do instead? They usually opt for easier-to-implement, more subtle solutions: here and there, they will replace a character in a cutscene, add an alternative dialogue option, or a side quest. It's also useful to change the perspective - focusing on a different element of the plot or a character already known to the players. However, it's never a completely new, alternative "branch" of the plot.
Regardless of the final effect, fans most appreciate the emotional depth and small moments in character development. While the grand vision of complex plot threads always tempts and captivates both devs and fans, it is the smallest, sincere moments in character development that truly determine the gameplay experience. They also stay with fans the longest.
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