Gaider and the other writers came up with “three different designs of the DAI ending where OGB Kieran could cause a complete divergence: a new path, cutscenes, the whole nine yards”, but ultimately BioWare lacked the development resources. to give life to everything. , especially since it would go over most players' heads.
“It was a decision from *two games ago* that only a small minority (hello telemetry) would choose,” Gaider said. “For the rest, they probably didn't know or care… so how many resources could they invest? To do what? Establish an even bigger divergence for the NEXT game?”
Gaider then spent three days writing “probably the most complicated scene” of his career in an effort to solve the old god's baby problem. The Dragon Age: Inquisition scene addressed Morrigan's reckoning with Flemeth and the resulting consequences, complete with three fully developed branching paths for Old God Baby Kieran, regular baby Kieran, and the option without Kieran at all, each with its own branching sub-paths. . And even that, Gaider said, was “disappointing,” but he said it's “as good as it gets” when it comes to creating a truly divergent plot.
“This is the thing about honoring the choices of previous games, from a design perspective: it's a silly game. What many fans imagine, when you mention it, is a divergent *plot*: the story changes course based on those main elections. How exciting! But you will never be able to present a divergent plot.
“You can offer flavor differences (usually in the form of divergent dialogue), character swaps (character “It's a question of resources and there are never enough for everyone.”
Although Gaider left BioWare in 2016 after 17 years at BioWare, all of this probably explains why Dragon Age: The Veilguard only includes three Inquisition decisions; Sounds like a big pain in the butt.
I just spent almost 80 hours on Dragon Age: The Veilguard and somehow I already desperately want more.