The journey of Dragon Age: The Veilguard towards its release on October 31 has been particularly interesting. While BioWare is pulling out all the stops to promote their fantasy RPG with trailers, gameplay videos, and interviews sharing details of the adventure, the community is reacting to these updates with mixed reactions. Many fans are eagerly anticipating a return to the world of Thedas, but others are not convinced that the game is the sequel the Dragon Age series deserves. And for John Epler, co-director of the experience, this is completely normal because he sees it as impossible to “make everyone happy.”
This is how the professional commented during a Q&A session with Eurogamer; a meeting with journalists discussing BioWare’s creative vision for Dragon Age: The Veilguard. “I don’t think you can make everyone happy,” the professional explains. “And I sincerely believe that, if you try to make everyone happy with any creative product, you will end up making nobody happy, because you will be compromising one thing for another.”
“You end up in a soft center where nobody is happy because you’re not doing X well enough for the people who like X, you’re not doing Y well enough for the people who like Y, and you, as a creator, are not doing what you believe in, what you think it should be,” Epler continues in the session. “I always find that design by committee, in many ways, ends up being the death of creative efforts when you’re trying to make everyone happy.”
“There will always be someone who is not happy,” the co-director continues. “But ultimately, it’s about creating the best version of the game that you, as a creator, believe needs to be made, and putting it out there. Some people will love it and others won’t, but at least you’ll have those people who love it because you cared enough to go in that direction you felt was right.”
Dragon Age: The Veilguard struggles with expectations
The Q&A session also touched on the artistic style of Dragon Age: The Veilguard; another feature of the RPG that has not convinced all fans. “Obviously, people will have their thoughts,” Epler expresses regarding this topic. “And in the case of a game like The Veilguard, this is a game whose previous installment came out 10 years ago, so people had that time to think about what a new game could be. Whatever version of the game you have in your head, no matter what it is, it will never be the version of the game you imagined.”
“Every time you make a change to something that has been there for a while, there will be some division, and what really matters is believing in the direction you’re going in and showing more of it to people, showing why it makes sense in that context,” Epler continues in his reflection. “There will always be some people who are not happy with one element or another, and that’s true with anything you create.”
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