Summary
Dragon Age: The Veilguardcontroversiallygot rid of world statesin favour of just three choices: who the Inquisitor romanced, whether they disbanded the Inquisition, and if they vowed to stop Solas.
However, Twitter user @veilguards found leftover files which prove that BioWare worked on a traditional world state system at one point during development.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard Originally Used The Keep
Before writing this, I loaded up the Frosty Editor to verify the @veilguards' claims, and there are indeed leftover references to a world state system, even marked by the prefix ‘Keep’.
For context, if you want to build a world state forInquisitionwithout replaying the first two games, you can make all of the same decisions through aquestionnaire onthe Dragon Age Keep websiteinstead. It’s a really handy tool, and these datamined files point to BioWare initially planning to use it again for The Veilguard.
There are four different topics flagged under ‘Keep’ — Romance, Inquisition, Trespasser, and Well of Sorrows (there are also separate references to the Inquisitor’s class and lineage). Most of these appear to have stayed in the game, albeit without using the Keep (and thus losing decisions fromDragon Age: OriginsandDragon Age 2), but the Well of Sorrows doesn’t come up at all.
What Is The Well Of Sorrows?
Spoilers for The Veilguard.
In the Well of Sorrows quest, either the Inquisitor or Morrigan can drink from the water to to hear the voices of Mythal’s servants, bestowing upon them knowledge of the ancient Evanuris. The downside is that Flemeth, who was possessed by Mythal at the time, can control whoever drinks from the well.
The Veilguard reveals that Morrigan is now possessed by Mythal in place of her mother, which could be interpreted as Morrigan having drank from the Well of Sorrows and thus opening the door for Mythal to take control. The Inquisitor never brings up the quest, so it fits nicely.
The art book also revealed that BioWarecut a quest where we would rescue whoever was left in the Fade, meaning Hawke could have made an appearance.
However, the datamined files point to a more concrete answer based on our choice in Inquisition, one that would’ve also brought back the Keep and thus every major decision we made throughout the series.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
WHERE TO PLAY
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the long-awaited fourth game in the fantasy RPG series from BioWare formerly known as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. A direct sequel to Inquisition, it focuses on red lyrium and Solas, the aforementioned Dread Wolf.
