Dragon Age The Veilguard Wishlist (Official Thread)

Graphics
I suppose I'm showing my age, but I never understood the current generation's obsession with uber-realistic animation. Didn't Andromeda show the danger of ignoring the forest for the trees? I don't need to see every pore and freckle, every water ripple or every individual blade of grass blowing in the wind. As long as I can play the game, tell who's who and understand what's going on, they can make it 8 bit for all I care.

Character Customization
Long hair would be nice, but I'd rather have a body slider, even if we only get two builds per character. It could be slim or robust within the context of each race, but I would like at least one lithe qunari or muscular elf.

Gameplay Options
Give us New Game Plus where we can continue leveling our characters. Money, resources and gear would nice, but I would rather it focus on carrying over stats and dialogue perks, maybe unlocked fast travel maps. If this makes the game too easy for some, they can *gasp!* not use those options.

Environments
I guess I'm in the minority here, but I never cared for open worlds with vast, empty areas with nothing to actually do. If they can give us unique areas with specific and varied objectives, fine. But I would rather see concentrated maps that change over time from story actions.

Classes
More important than anything, bring back stat customization and the ability to use any armor and weapons. I don't care if my mage has to take huge mana penalties, if I want to put them in heavy armor I should be able to. Same thing with warriors, let them dual wield and used ranged weapons again. I realize certain classes need to be better at one thing or another (tanking, CC), but making our characters so narrowed takes away player choice and gameplay opportunities. Not to mention that it makes zero sense in universe that no one would try to diversify their skill sets.

For the classes themselves, make the base class broad enough to support several styles (tanking, damage, support and utility) while leaving more specific abilities to Specializations. Also, bring back the ability to have more than one. Companions would have one personal Specialization with unique abilities, and the option to add a second one of the player's choosing later.

For the Specializations, I hope they synthesize old ones into new ones. For example, merge the Berserker and DAMP Silent Sister into The Gladiator, or the mechanics of the Spirit Healer and Shapeshifter into a Spirit Channeler. On the hand, they could introduce a Summoner that uses spirits to heal allies and debuff enemies. If one of our Companions is another Templar, make them a Rogue who uses technology and spec op tactics.

Tone
Like so many have said before, show don't tell. I want to see the Magisters' decadence and opulence, magic being flaunted and abused, mundanes in constant fear of angry mages and their duels and demons, the true horror and apathy of slavery, revolutionaries who can be just as monstrous, the might of the Qunari in all their glory and terror, what the Evanaris really were, all of it. It doesn't have to GRIMDARK all the time, but I don't want Tevinter whitewashed, for the writers lie to us and insult or intelligence.

Agency
I want to be able to play many different types of personalities: good, evil, ambitious, pragmatic, fun loving, dickish troll, well meaning but in over my head, and everything in between. What I DO NOT WANT is being stupid and passive for plot railroading, or writers with an agenda second guessing my motives. For example, a couple of my characters would refuse an alliance with Maevaris Tilani because they view the Lucerni as a threat to their personal power, they want their revolution to overthrow ALL Magisters, they view her as dangerously niave, or they simply don't like "sassy" people. I don't want the writers forcing me to work with Mae because in their minds transphobia is the only reason anyone would ever reject her

That said, I do not want our protagonist to be able warp reality and fix everything for their Mega Happy Ending. It always yanks me out of the story when PCs can override centuries of conflict and break in universe physical laws just for player entitlement. I want dilemmas with hard choices, where we actually have to sacrifice actual people and resources. I want scenarios where doing the traditionally "right" thing makes everything far worse. I want a world that I can look and say, "Yep, that's what would ACTUALLY happen".

Quests
Most of can agree, the less Twenty Bear Asses fetch types, the better. I want meaningful, story driven missions with believable motivations. Quests where the mechanics of it (combat, stealth, detective work, etc.) are just as important as the characters involved. Though I do wish Bioware would take a few pages from Obsidian and give their quests multiple ways of solving as well as outcomes, specially non-violent routes. This doesn't mean I equate the Pacifist Run with being a Goody Two-Shoes, as you can still lie, bribe, blackmail or get someone else to do your fighting after all .

Companions, Advisors and Allies
Past DA games have deconstructed traditional heroic archetypes: The Knight in Shining Armor, the Plucky Rogue, the Wise Mentor, etc. Given how Tevinter is an examination of the standard fantasy Evil Empire, I hope DA4 deconstructs villain archetypes: The Black Knight, the Femme Fatale, the Dark Priest, the Psycho Gladiator, the Bound Demon, and so on. Instead of the Hero with a Dark Secret, give us the So-Called Monster, someone who still has their humanity that you only find out later.

In retrospect, I've become weary of Advisor types since I don't believe any characters or alliances should be mandatory. It's especially when they had no Approval and would stay with you no matter what. Who the player allies with should be their choice. Consequently, if the player pisses off to many people, they should cut ties and the player should have to look for alternate resources. Mandatory Advisors just strike me as patronizing dev handholding to railroad the player and keep them from screwing up to bad. To me, sometimes the story of failure can be just as interesting as success.

Approval
I would like to see an updated Friendship or Rivalry system return. DAI's Approval system made it so that if the player wanted all Companions, they became either a manipulative sociopath or spinelessly desperate for friends. With FvR, you can roleplay a consistent character and have meaningfully divergent paths, as long as the writers remember Friendship can equally be enabling their worst behaviors, and Rival can challenge them to be better people. Maybe they could take inspiration from Obsidian's Tyranny, where Loyalty and Fear are not mutually exclusive.


Romance
When it comes to Love Interests, I prefer set sexualities to playersexual, as it gives more variety, a greater number of romances, and specific representation that an all bi cast cannot. Probably more anything, I want romance types that have never been done in a DA game, like some detailed here: bsn.boards.net/thread/10818/romance-types. Apart from that, I wouldn't mind the occasional fling and/or friends with benefits.

One that I am not as enthusiastic about in DA4 however, is the Gay Knight In Shining Armor. I know how popular the tropes is for some, and LGBTQ players deserve that kind of character. But I just can't see how anyone, regardless of orientation, could stay noble and just in Tevinter without being compromised, broken or killed. That some one could so warp reality to remain morally pure in one the most cutthroat civilizations in all Thedas just destroys the story's creditability to me. Fantasy wish fulfillment and idealization is one thing, but the core narrative of Dragon Age is a dark and brutal world with complex characters and no easy answers.