A mage killer and a mage enter a bar, but it's Dragon Age: The Veilguard so nothing happens. Lucanis may have a reputation as a cutthroat wizard-hunting assassin, but in reality he's a “don't talk to me until I've had my coffee” millennial with as much bite as an uncaged griffin.
That pretty much sums up every companion in the game. After spending hours with the obnoxiously nice Bellara, the surprisingly kind and forgiving Neve, and the jack-of-all-trades Harding, I was thrilled to meet a necromancer! Surely they will be a little rougher around the edges? No.
Everyone is too nice, too selfless, too heroic. I would find these contradictory characters endearing if no one had a mean bone in their body. God help me, I'm surrounded by wylls.
Wyll's dynamic with the rest of the party makes him interesting
Often considered the most boring companion in Baldur's Gate 3, Wyll has a bad reputation. But it's not surprising – the moral hero is inherently a boring character archetype. The willingness to save the day right at the start of the journey leaves little room for growth, making it difficult to stay invested in their stories unless you give them a Mizora-shaped thwart or match a few selfish guys.
Baldur's Gate 3 does this incredibly well with a desperate power-hungry vampire, a racist Shar-worshipper who has been deceived and corrupted, and a militaristic Githyanki who would happily kill you in your sleep. They prevent Wyll's positivity from becoming overwhelming and bring his true character to life, breaking beneath the surface of this brave shell to reveal the true Wyll.
There's a great thread running through Baldur's Gate 3, using conflicting motives to not only make the companions more interesting, but also to make their relationships feel more organic.
Take Shadowheart. Her “theft” of a Githyanki artifact and demeaning comments about the Githyanki people immediately drive a wedge between her and Lae'zel, but as they unravel Lae'zel's quest through a visit to daycare and question Shadowheart's dogmatic upbringing, the two get closer and help each other. It is valuable to have conflicts because they allow you to delve deeper into these people's personalities.
The Veilguard companions should hate each other
In contrast, in The Veilguard everyone is too friendly the moment they join forces, leaving no room for such dynamics and bonds to form naturally.
For one thing, Lucanis is possessed by a demon, and there's surprisingly little tension with Neve, who as a Tevinter mage should be wary of a monstrosity. On the other hand, one would expect Lucanis to be less trustworthy of a mage… because he's a mage-assassin. Then we have Bellara, who as an elf would probably feel uncomfortable around a Tevinter mage since they have had elf slaves in the past. Instead, she's a fangirl.
Taash and Davrin are by far the most interesting companions because although they still bond and form friendships quickly, they need time to open up.
The lack of conflict leaves everyone feeling superficial and lacking real personality. Even important story decisions that have enormous impact on the home and personal life of partners are shrugged off. Nobody holds a grudge! I want these people to get mad at me, storm away, and have these poignant moments of real emotion. This makes Rook feel flawless and the bonds between party members meaningless.
Even Wyll gets angry with Tav sometimes. But in a party full of heroes with a protagonist straddled by a dialogue wheel that makes even the most snarky remarks enjoyable, that's simply not possible. Nobody is ready to defend themselves, to argue. It's textbook toxic positivity: you feel dysfunctional and dismissive because you refuse to engage with your emotions, but it doesn't feel like a narrative choice, just a side effect of being so nice.
If everyone is nice, then everyone is boring
In any other game I would have loved Bellara. She's sweet, her excitement is infectious, and her refusal to let even the worst odds wear her down is uplifting like nothing else. But at a party where everyone is so nice and excited, it gets lost. The strange thing is that Dragon Age nailed this in previous games. We had party members with teeth at each other's throats and becoming friends long before Baldur's Gate 3 got to the heart of it. The Shroud Guardian has lost sight of this, and I can't understand why.
I swear Rook gets credit for just breathing. I could punch Emmrich in the face and he would be happy about it.
The game hides a lot of difficult themes in order to make The Veilguard as harmless as possible (my colleague Jack Coleman wrote a brilliant article that goes into this in more detail). And a major side effect of this desire to be tasty is that it's boring. Nothing sticks with me more than the terrible things my group said to each other as we trudged along, whether it was Alistair telling Morrigan to die in a hole or Anders comparing Fenris to a wild dog.
These moments of tension are why they stay with us all these years later, because they are not perfect. They have flaws and feel like real people. It was so easy to bond with them and get invested in their arcs because they weren't mindlessly supportive and nodding along like robots. I have never felt compelled by a single Shroudguard companion, and I'm not sure I ever will.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the long-awaited fourth game in BioWare's fantasy RPG series, formerly known as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. It is a direct sequel to Inquisition and focuses on Red Lyrium and Solas, the aforementioned dire wolf.
