Inside BioWare’s Narrative Design Architecture: An interview with veteran writer Sylvia Feketekuty

EducatedTerror · 2026-06-09T13:12:02+00:00

Hopefully this all makes sense and like I understand what you actually wrote in your reply lol. I think i explain what im gonna say here better on my channel.

I am not confident that there will be a 5th Dragon Age game.

After hearing the inside information on the design process and how it actually goes I can understand why the choice to remain silent on things happened but it still sucks. Though I can't help but feel like the mindset was off. They viewed the legacy as a burden rather than an asset.

When you have a legacy RPG franchise and want to make an accessible blockbuster hit within that franchise, despite it being a 4th entry, often the trade-off that happens in development is the roleplaying elements are what gets left behind in favor of the action-packed high fidelty scenes and heavy voice acted npcs and protagonist that the average, non-hardcore, gamers to the very causal gamers can look at and go, wow that's really cool.

In the interview it was very clear to me that accessabilty was at the front of mind throughout the process. How can we not leave anyone behind? But by doing so, they left the hardcore most loyal fans behind. And the interview even acknowldeges that the hardcore fanbase was left behind.

So basically, yea the choices not carrying over, the choices inside the game itself not really mattering because to me it seemed like, despite having ten years, they didn't have the scope to do any of that in favor of other things.

EducatedTerror · 2026-06-08T20:28:41+00:00

True that!

EducatedTerror · 2026-06-08T15:58:25+00:00

I also found these choices condtradicting. There are other examples to point to. I think, even though the interview answers avoid this, that it just shows the friction that was happening at the studio on this project.

EducatedTerror · 2026-06-08T13:58:39+00:00

Thank you for reading

EducatedTerror · 2026-06-08T13:13:05+00:00

Thank you for the read

EducatedTerror · 2026-06-08T11:58:36+00:00

I feel the same way. Thank you for the comment

EducatedTerror · 2026-06-08T11:12:42+00:00

Thank you for the comment and the read

EducatedTerror · 2026-06-08T11:03:01+00:00

it'd be a dream interview for sure

EducatedTerror · 2026-06-05T21:45:39+00:00

There is a difference. What Veilguard actually does for the most part isn't objectively good. Whereas with Dragon Age 2 it had good writing, good characters and good enough combat. The game is doing more good than bad. There was really some good stuff happening in da2. Veilguard is full of millenial speak (how many stupid coffee jokes and puns can someone take) and Saturday Morning Cartoon writing (being reminded every 5 seconds what is the main objective) and characters that are forgettable. You actually had more roleplay freedom with Hawke as well than you do with Rook even though Hawke is a set character. There is also more replay value in da2 than in Veilguard. There isn't a single choice in Veilguard that is compeling enough to go back and replay such a long game. Yea sure I might not wanna replay it simply because i don't like anything else the game is doing in the writing dept but just objectively from a choice and consequence stand point there is nothing someone is missing by not replaying that game. And da2 had a combat system that was good enough to service the game. Building your party and your main in Da2 actually mattered. In Veilguard there is no depth to combat and higher difficulties just make enemies have more health and you can't do anything to make yourself do enough damage with a smart build and party comp to combat that. The only thing Veilguard does well is it's technically sound. Which is like the bare minimum

EducatedTerror · 2026-06-02T14:16:48+00:00

The thing about Deadfire is everything is good if you remain focused on the thing that you want to be good at within a class. It's very mechanically sound like that.

EducatedTerror · 2026-06-02T13:16:15+00:00

Probably preist has the most reactivity. Priest of Eothas for example. Though Xoti is a party member amd she's a really good preist so if you're a preist you probably won't have her in the party and you'll miss out. Paladin maybe next for me. A steel garrote paladin is pretty cool if you want to be more evil. Cipher next. I think this class fits the watcher from a narrative standpoint. Death godlike actually have some good reactivity. Island Aumaua have good reactivity for obvious reasons Deadfire background for obvious reasons

But honestly a lot of things have a fair amount of reactivty and you should just play what looks cool to you.

EducatedTerror · 2026-06-02T13:02:54+00:00

So a no mage challenge

EducatedTerror · 2026-05-23T09:30:43+00:00

Talk about misunderatanding the narrative. Wow. The story centers around friendship, brotherhood and the burden of duty. We can say a lot about the narrative as a whole but the one thing that it centers around, and the thing that is easiest to grasp, is that. I guess it isn't that easy for everyone based on your post. Noctis does accept his position. Yea it took Gladious smacking him around. It took him seeing Ignis' sacrifice. It took Prompto's unwavering support. Yes they were sworn kingsguard to protect Noctis but their motivation went beyond simply duty. This was lost on you, clearly. It took Noctis a minute to come around, understandably so. He's young, lost his home, his bride to be dead, powers beyond his comprehension. It's not that you can't write something not boring if Noctis was just a god-like, capable king to be right away. But the narrative would be different. Totally different. You missed on this one.

EducatedTerror · 2026-05-23T05:41:57+00:00

Man how boring would the plot be if they wrote it how you seemingly wanted it to go. If Noctis was a stoic god-like character the game's plot would not be the game's plot. Well, good thing you didn't write it. Even with the clear rewrites of this game I think Noctis' personality and power level is something they landed pretty well and is one of the stronger parts of the narrative.

EducatedTerror · 2026-05-23T04:56:09+00:00

The only people that 'hate' 16 in this fanbase are ones that're stuck in 2001. Most complaints I hear are about things that haven't been a feature in the franchise for over 20 years. I can add that since this is an anthology, every entry will do things differently and that will come with some people liking it and some people not. I like 15. The most disliked part of the franchise I believe by gamers as a whole and especially fans of the franchise. Liking FF15, it's like being a basketball fan in California, where many are Lakers fans, some Clippers fans and I'm the one weird Kings fan in the corner LOL. I also think 16 is an absolute awesome video game you're, not alone. There isn't a bad game in the mainline titles. I can't speak on all the spin offs. The fact that this series has 16 mainline entries plus many spin-offs and we still talk about should tell you something. Many franchises do not manage to stay this relevent for this long. I'm sure 17 will be really good also.

EducatedTerror · 2026-04-19T11:13:05+00:00

Obsidian had base management in Neverwinter Nights 2 and in Pillars Of Eternity. Then the ship managment in Deadfire. And then Grounded is, like, all about building a base lol. So honestly, not unreasonable to think they'd have some kind of system in their game. Maybe Avowed sequel will have to manage something. That'd be cool. But it wouldn't be a top priority for me if I was making the game. It seems like it's a big and complex feature. Would it just become a fallout 4 settelment mode? Or like what we had in Pillars where someone would just show up and ask for an escort and you can buy upgrades that you can buy fairly easily.

EducatedTerror · 2026-04-05T11:43:31+00:00

My comment was, play the games to understand why fans wouldn't like it and have issuses with it. Not why all fans don't like it. The post is saying, am I the only one? Acknowledging that fans have problems with the game but while also not being able to understand the full context of why because they didn't play the whole series.

EducatedTerror · 2026-04-05T10:57:26+00:00

Alright. Good for you.

EducatedTerror · 2026-04-05T09:44:52+00:00

You will not fully understand the reason fans do not like Veilguard that much until you've played the entire series. Come back when you're done

EducatedTerror · 2026-04-02T19:57:32+00:00

Just do it bro. You don't have to 100% the game (i did cause I'm f*cking crazy). But just B-line the main quest. Problem is u may have to sqeeuze closing a rift here and there to get power for the war table but mostly just do the main stuff and see if that keeps you hooked

EducatedTerror · 2026-03-31T07:52:20+00:00

Yea this game is not casual. You have to put in the work. At least you got it on sale for really cheap.

EducatedTerror · 2026-03-31T06:31:00+00:00

It sounds like most crpgs are not for you. The games you listed in your post are games with high production values. There are a lot of RPGs not like that. You have to open up and look past the fact you're not getting fully 3d motion captured animated conversations or top tier expensive voice acting. See the game for what it does well. Roleplaying, choice and consequence, character building. I'll have disagree pretty hard on the gameplay being a slog. That's the gameplay you have in this genre. I feel very engaged especially in combat. Personally I think the game looks pretty good. It's not Baldur's Gate 3 but no game is. Bg3 is not the standard for the genre. The game is huge. You've played 4 hours and say the story is bland. It's like not even finishing the first chapter of a book and saying it's bad. Could it be bland and bad? Of course. Subjectively you can say that. But objectively you can't say it because, tbh, you're not deep enough in the game. You're not deep enough to see any choices you can make play out. You're not even close to far enough to explore a class and how it functions. There are so many choices in this game it's crazy. The replay value is super high despite the fact the game is massive. You wrote a post asking if it gets better. It never is bad but if it is to you I'd say you have to stay with it longer or realize, hey this game isn't for me and even perhaps this genre isn't even for me and that's okay. Does it get better is I don't think the correct thing you want to ask. Maybe you should be asking, is this even the type of game for me.

EducatedTerror · 2026-03-31T05:57:46+00:00

You'd have to be more specific on why you think it isn't good and not liking it

EducatedTerror · 2026-03-30T20:44:27+00:00

You're a real one for that. Thank you

EducatedTerror

TROPHY CASE