Dragon Age: The Veilguard Retrospective One Year Later

Video Description

Dragon Age: The Veilguard was a mixed game. In so many ways it’s the best BioWare has to offer and in so many ways it shows just how much BioWare changed from its beginnings of making the CRPGs of Baldur’s Gate 1 and Baldur’s Gate 2. In it, it contains some amazing companions, lore reveals and story moments. But it also contains things like Lucanis’ weird coffee obsession and a mandated light hearted tone that the writers of the game didn’t want. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a mixed game and while I don’t love it all when it is Dragon Age I love it so dearly. So, join me as I talk about the development of this game and the game itself. Here are my sources in order of appearance. “How 2017 Changed BioWare 1000 Ways” by Mark Darrah https://youtu.be/4v9SIGTLHF0?si=hHgSKN0fCiIIEygL Ghil Dirthalen Blue Sky post on Matt Goldman mandating a light-hearted tone. https://bsky.app/profile/ghildirthalen.bsky.social/post/3lzz74nouus2z “How BioWare Finally Got Dragon Age to the Finish Line After a Tumultuous Decade” by Kat Bailey https://za.ign.com/dragon-age-dreadwolf/201462/news/how-bioware-finally-got-dragon-age-to-the-finish-line-after-a-tumultuous-decade “Inside the ‘Dragon Age’ Debacle That Gutted EA’s BioWare Studio” by Jason Schreier https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-11/inside-the-dragon-age-debacle-that-gutted-ea-s-bioware-studio “The Pirate Ship vs. The Enterprise” by Mark Darrah https://youtu.be/kputeTFFuaU?si=ic3AnvTaiPIEVf61 “EA - Why They're Eating Up Studios and Killing Games” by Mark Darrah https://youtu.be/aci7UAeKcuE?si=dQGjOfXxmWDWDhun David Gaider BlueSky post on EA preferring Mass Effect https://bsky.app/profile/davidgaider.bsky.social/post/3lmqz2n5quk2p “Producer Talks About What Really Happened to Anthem? - The Early Days (Part 1 2011 - 2017)” by Mark Darrah https://youtu.be/9_QY8F8z_4c?si=KS3pnsfNzbDB_GK7 "The Art of Dragon Age: The Veilguard" "Dragon Age: Inquisition - Memories and Lessons #DAI" by Mark Darrah https://youtu.be/4Q5_RsII_Ho?si=s5W9IeUrOsx38qvU&t=665 "20,000 Subscribers Q&A" by Mark Darrah https://www.youtube.com/live/ufoiQ4Y_e0c?si=W9v98eH8pgyygPRn Black City Image taken from Dragon Age Wiki https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Black_City Arlathan's Fall armour taken from Dragon Age Wiki https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Arlathan%27s_Fall Vaughan’s image is from Dragon Age Wiki https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Vaughan_Kendells "The Past And Present Of Dragon Age 4" by Jason Schreier https://kotaku.com/the-past-and-present-of-dragon-age-4 Image of Anthem Character Creator is from this reddit post https://www.reddit.com/r/AnthemTheGame/comments/as98l3/why_did_we_choose_a_face_did_anyone_see_it_after/ IGN review by Leana Hafer https://www.ign.com/articles/dragon-age-the-veilguard-review Eurogamer review by Robert Purchese https://www.eurogamer.net/dragon-age-the-veilguard-review Noah Caldwell-Gervais https://youtu.be/Vrd6GpZXvdk?si=e0tOowsEmOWTYK-n Echo Bizarre https://youtu.be/F0WGCGKmpPA?si=7ogWl_T-S849luFD Mortismal Gaming https://youtu.be/xCz1ITSy2O8?si=YfYnj4W5y50Cj5Od Kala Elizabeth https://youtu.be/6f6mpF_cmWU?si=jfEyCvzEVb1X-2XK Ghil Dirthalen https://youtu.be/rcTvs_Wg1kk?si=eQLHecvQIKkx6I3- Source for Dragon Age Origins origins data https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Origins#Trivia “Dragon Age: Origins - Memories and Lessons” by Mark Darrah https://youtu.be/K7NsTS9MtPw?si=RWwcvk8jN2NpTQwT Ghil Dirthalen’s comments on Rook https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/1guw90b/comment/lxy35ev/ https://www.reddit.com/user/Ghilannain/search/?q=rook&type=comments David Gaider’s Blue Sky post on importing choices and talking about Kieran https://bsky.app/profile/davidgaider.bsky.social/post/3lbgafpnwec2r https://bsky.app/profile/davidgaider.bsky.social/post/3lbfwg2555s22 Reddit AMA with John Epler and Corrine Busche https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/1h0h5nh/dragon_age_the_veilguard_developer_ama_on_dragon/ MINRATHOU on Twitter who shared screenshots on DAV Keep files https://x.com/MINRATHOU/status/1881659934871539768 “Dragon Age II (Dragon Age: Exodus) - Memories and Lessons” by Mark Darrah (This is where the art style of Dragon Age 2 is described. And this is also where Mark Darrah said DA2’s gameplay is basically Dragon Age: Origins but a bit different) https://youtu.be/ti7jpWhkjQA?si=k9XB8ELLWwmezQmD 00:00 Development 21:52 Joplin, to Morrison, to Veilguard 41:55 The Reviews 52:14 A Long-Awaited Reintroduction 1:02:39 A Hero To Stop Gods 1:17:47 World State 1:26:47 Visuals and Level Design 1:36:22 Music 1:47:16 Art Style 1:53:17 Gameplay 2:06:17 A Mix Of Good And Bad 3:27:45 Choices and Consequences, and Opportunities Meet 3:47:55 The Dread Wolf 4:25:28 Companions and Factions 5:20:19 To Defeat Gods 6:09:11 The End Of A Story 6:12:05 Conclusion The rest of the sources will be in the comments because I hit the character count limit for YouTubes descriptions. Though I do want to say thank you for watching.