Dragon Age: The Veilguardhas had a very long development cycle that hasn’t been smooth sailing all the way. Marked by several reboots, changes in direction, a shift from live service to single-player, and a sudden name change just months before its release,Dragon Age’s fans haven’t had an easy time waiting for the next chapter in the fantasy series.Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s casting director recently shined some light on why the development cycle has been so long beyond the issues that BioWare encountered, withDragon Age: The Veilguardfeaturing 140,000 lines to record across 700 characters.
This is good news forMass Effectfans, asDragon Age: The Veilguard’s focus on a streamlined world with fewer but deeper characters with more lines means a larger and richer game in terms of roleplaying and storytelling. BothDragon Age: InquisitionandMass Effect: Andromedafeatured massive worlds to create an open-world experience, butDragon Age: The Veilguardmove to pivot back to theMass Effect Trilogy’s original mission-based design, while still expanding on the depth in the story, could be taken as a positive sign for the nextMass Effectgame.
Predicting Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Size
Recording 140,000 lines takes a long time, and theDragon Ageteam has reportedly spent the past five years capturing the lines andperformances ofDragon Age: The Veilguard’s actors. The number of lines is significant when compared to previous BioWare games.Mass Effect: Andromedahad just 65,000 lines stretched across 1,200 characters, whereasDragon Age: The Veilguardhas moved in the opposite direction with fewer characters but more lines. Past BioWare games had the following amount of lines:
This is especially impressive when considering thatDragon Age: The Veilguardonly has seven companions compared toDragon Age: Inquisition’s nine andMass Effect 2’s ten, and thatDragon Age: The Veilguardis not an open-world game. Despite not being open-world,Dragon Age: The Veilguardshould be the biggest BioWare game yet based on its line count.
The Possible Size of the Next Mass Effect
IfDragon Age: The Veilguardis successful, this new approach should be good news to fans ofMass Effectas it will likely be applied to the development of the nextMass Effectgame.Mass Effect: Andromedawas released in 2017 and, because of its reception, thefuture ofMass Effectwas uncertain for a timeuntil the announcement that anotherMass Effectgame was in development. It’s already been several years since that announcement and, aside from a few teasers, there has been very little news of its development, indicating that its release could be some years away.
The gap betweenDragon Age: InquisitionandDragon Age: The Veilguard’s release has been ten years, and it’s beginning to look as ifMass Effectfans could be in for a similar wait. If the development team for the nextMass Effectgame intends to make it just as in-depth with as many or more lines asDragon Age: The Veilguard, with possibly even four different voice options and accents to choose from, the wait could be one that’s worthwhile to create aMass Effectgame that captures the spirit of the series, but also embodies the kind ofMass Effectgame that BioWare has always envisioned.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
WHERE TO PLAY
Enter the world of Thedas, a vibrant land of rugged wilderness, treacherous labyrinths, and glittering cities – steeped in conflict and secret magics. Now, a pair of corrupt ancient gods have broken free from centuries of darkness and are hellbent on destroying the world.Thedas needs someone they can count on. Rise as Rook, Dragon Age’s newest hero. Be who you want to be and play how you want to play as you fight to stop the gods from blighting the world. But you can’t do this alone – the odds are stacked against you. Lead a team of seven companions, each with their own rich story to discover and shape, and together you will become The Veilguard.
