{"id":1815749,"date":"2026-03-09T11:36:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-09T08:36:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1815749"},"modified":"2026-03-09T11:36:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-09T08:36:12","slug":"it-always-feels-like-its-never-enough-dragon-age-creator-david-gaider-explains-the-problem-with-world-states-and-reactivity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1815749","title":{"rendered":"&#8220;It always feels like it&#8217;s never enough&#8221; Dragon Age creator David Gaider explains the problem with world states and reactivity"},"content":{"rendered":"<article class=\"article \" data-ads=\"true\" data-article-type=\"news\" data-article-group=\"news\" data-paywalled=\"false\" data-premium=\"false\" data-sponsored=\"false\" data-type=\"article\">\n<header class=\"article_header\" data-component=\"article-header\">\n<div class=\"breadcrumbs\">\n<nav class=\"nav_breadcrumbs\" data-component=\"nav-breadcrumbs\" aria-label=\"Breadcrumb\">\n<ul class=\"nav-links\">\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Home<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/news\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      News<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<li>\n                <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/dragon-age-ii\" data-active=\"false\"><br \/>\n                      Dragon Age II<br \/>\n                <\/a>\n            <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/nav><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_details\" id=\"main-content\">\n<h1 class=\"title\">&#8220;It always feels like it&#8217;s never enough&#8221; Dragon Age creator David Gaider explains the problem with world states and reactivity<\/h1>\n<p class=\"strapline\">Stacked-up choices.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"headline_asset\">\n<figure class=\"headline_image_wrapper\">\n<p>        <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"headline_image\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/Dragon-Age-2-Hawke.jpg?width=570&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;dpr=3&amp;auto=webp\" alt=\"Hawke stands determined in front of a foggy fantasy vista in this screen from Dragon Age 2.\" loading=\"eager\" data-uri=\"Dragon-Age-2-Hawke.jpg\" data-lightbox width=\"570\" height=\"321\"><figcaption>\n          <span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>BioWare\/EA<\/cite><\/span><br \/>\n        <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"metadata\">\n<div class=\"avatar\">\n<p>    <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/fran-j-ruiz-author.png?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\"><\/p>\n<p>  <img alt=\"Fran Ruiz avatar\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-uri=\"fran-j-ruiz-author.png\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1\" width=\"180\" height=\"180\">\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"text\">\n<div class=\"byline\">\n                  <span class=\"article_type\" data-slug=\"news\"><br \/>\n                    News<br \/>\n                  <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span class=\"by\">by<\/span> <span class=\"author\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/authors\/fran-ruiz\">Fran Ruiz<\/a><\/span>                    <span class=\"job_title\"><br \/>\n                      Contributor<br \/>\n                    <\/span>\n            <\/div>\n<div class=\"published_at\">\nPublished on <time datetime=\"2026-03-09T11:36:12+00:00\">March 9, 2026<\/time>              <\/div>\n<div class=\"comments\">\n      <a class=\"comments__link comments-bubble\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/dragon-age-creator-david-gaider-on-world-states-and-reactivity-problems?view=comments\" rel=\"nofollow\"><br \/>\n          12 comments<br \/>\n      <\/a>\n    <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mypop-header-wrapper\">\n<p><button class=\"mypop-button button wide\" data-state=\"follow\" data-type=\"tag\" data-uuid=\"ec7d720a-44f0-412c-b8e5-600afd8ceab7\" data-name=\"Dragon Age II\" data-follow-text=\"Follow Dragon Age II\" data-unfollow-text=\"Following Dragon Age II\" data-aria-follow-text=\"Follow Dragon Age II\" data-aria-unfollow-text=\"Following Dragon Age II\" data-popup=\"true\" data-force-login=\"true\" aria-label=\"Follow Dragon Age II\" title=\"Follow Dragon Age II\"><br \/>\n  Follow Dragon Age II<br \/>\n<\/button>          <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>No matter what your feelings on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/dragon-age-dreadwolf\">Dragon Age: The Veilguard<\/a> were, the fantasy RPG series remains relevant and fans have been celebrating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/dragon-age-ii\">the second game<\/a>&#8216;s 15th anniversary for the past few days. Disappointing to many, but celebrated by some of the series&#8217; diehards, Dragon Age 2 still gets people arguing online over its value as part of the larger universe.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegamer.com\/dragon-age-lead-world-states-not-enough\/\">TheGamer<\/a> had the chance to chat with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/one-to-one-its-dragon-age-creator-david-gaider\">Dragon Age creator David Gaider<\/a> about the sequel, its development struggles, and the series as a whole. One of the most interesting chunks of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegamer.com\/dragon-age-2-david-gaider-interview\/\">full conversation<\/a>, however, was the writer&#8217;s comments on world states and the reactivity based on player choices across different games. How could one possibly deliver, not just on the writing front, on every major choice players made in previous instalments?<\/p>\n<p>According to Gaider, it&#8217;s &#8220;such a mixed bag,&#8221; and he said he&#8217;s been feeling that way about it since Dragon Age 2. &#8220;Even to do the amount of reactivity that we did, which went from one line references to [an old] character reappears, and you have an entire plot, it always feels like it&#8217;s never enough&#8230; The people who want reactivity, what they really seem to want is a whole diversionary plot.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Considering DA2&#8217;s reduced scale (mostly defined by its very short development), that wasn&#8217;t much of an issue at first, but the much bigger <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/dragon-age-inquisition\">Inquisition<\/a> and Veilguard ran into several walls years later when it came to big narrative beats that fans had grown a bit too attached to. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/mass-effect\">Mass Effect<\/a> series kept things tight on that front with a clearer narrative roadmap for the full trilogy, but the upcoming <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/mass-effect-5\">Mass Effect &#8216;legacy sequel&#8217; of sorts<\/a> will have to make a choice after the universe-shaking endings of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/mass-effect-3\">ME3<\/a>, as having an entirely different version of the massive RPG simply isn&#8217;t a realistic option, no matter the team&#8217;s size and production budget.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Morrigan in Dragon Age: Inquisition\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/DA_Inquisition_Morrigan.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"1200\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Morrigan in Dragon Age: Inquisition\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"DA_Inquisition_Morrigan.jpg\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"1200\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>BioWare\/EA<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With Inquisition came the problem of Morrigan&#8217;s &#8216;Old God Baby&#8217; (that&#8217;s what the fans call them): &#8220;What [fans] really wanted was for the Old God baby to have this world-shaking importance&#8230; That, if he existed, there&#8217;s this whole entirely different ending to Inquisition. And I can&#8217;t do that. As much as I&#8217;d like to, I can only do that in the space of a novel. I can&#8217;t do that in a game,&#8221; Gaider explained.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>If you continue to make sequels that empower players by giving them meaningful choices, return to the same setting, and have legacy characters show up, the problem only becomes even bigger. &#8220;It&#8217;s either irrelevant or not enough,&#8221; Gaider concluded before adding he loved writing callbacks &#8220;like with Alistair&#8217;s mom&#8221; nonetheless. It&#8217;s just a tricky thing to pull off in a way which satisfies veterans, at least within the constraints of large-scale game dev.<\/p>\n<p>As one of the key architects behind the Dragon Age series, Gaider has never shied away from discussing the world of Thedas and BioWare&#8217;s past and present. Eurogamer&#8217;s past conversations with the creative shed light on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/bioware-knew-the-deepest-secrets-of-dragon-age-lore-20-years-ago-and-locked-it-away-in-an-uber-plot-doc\">20-year-old secrets<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/who-is-qualified-to-make-a-world-in-search-of-the-magic-of-maps\">the creation of maps for the first three games<\/a>, and continue to be great reads if you&#8217;re passionate about Dragon Age.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"preferred-source\" data-component=\"preferred-source\">\nLove Eurogamer.net? Make us a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\">Preferred Source on Google<\/a> and catch more of our coverage in your feeds.  <\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article_body\" data-component=\"article-content\">\n<div class=\"article_body_content article-styling\">\n<p>No matter what your feelings on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/dragon-age-dreadwolf\">Dragon Age: The Veilguard<\/a> were, the fantasy RPG series remains relevant and fans have been celebrating <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/dragon-age-ii\">the second game<\/a>&#8216;s 15th anniversary for the past few days. Disappointing to many, but celebrated by some of the series&#8217; diehards, Dragon Age 2 still gets people arguing online over its value as part of the larger universe.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegamer.com\/dragon-age-lead-world-states-not-enough\/\">TheGamer<\/a> had the chance to chat with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/one-to-one-its-dragon-age-creator-david-gaider\">Dragon Age creator David Gaider<\/a> about the sequel, its development struggles, and the series as a whole. One of the most interesting chunks of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegamer.com\/dragon-age-2-david-gaider-interview\/\">full conversation<\/a>, however, was the writer&#8217;s comments on world states and the reactivity based on player choices across different games. How could one possibly deliver, not just on the writing front, on every major choice players made in previous instalments?<\/p>\n<p>According to Gaider, it&#8217;s &#8220;such a mixed bag,&#8221; and he said he&#8217;s been feeling that way about it since Dragon Age 2. &#8220;Even to do the amount of reactivity that we did, which went from one line references to [an old] character reappears, and you have an entire plot, it always feels like it&#8217;s never enough&#8230; The people who want reactivity, what they really seem to want is a whole diversionary plot.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Considering DA2&#8217;s reduced scale (mostly defined by its very short development), that wasn&#8217;t much of an issue at first, but the much bigger <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/dragon-age-inquisition\">Inquisition<\/a> and Veilguard ran into several walls years later when it came to big narrative beats that fans had grown a bit too attached to. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/mass-effect\">Mass Effect<\/a> series kept things tight on that front with a clearer narrative roadmap for the full trilogy, but the upcoming <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/mass-effect-5\">Mass Effect &#8216;legacy sequel&#8217; of sorts<\/a> will have to make a choice after the universe-shaking endings of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/games\/mass-effect-3\">ME3<\/a>, as having an entirely different version of the massive RPG simply isn&#8217;t a realistic option, no matter the team&#8217;s size and production budget.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Morrigan in Dragon Age: Inquisition\" height=\"675\" src=\"https:\/\/assetsio.gnwcdn.com\/DA_Inquisition_Morrigan.jpg?width=2048&amp;height=2048&amp;fit=bounds&amp;quality=85&amp;format=jpg&amp;auto=webp\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"1200\"><\/p>\n<p><img alt=\"Morrigan in Dragon Age: Inquisition\" data-autosize=\"crop_lossy\" data-lightbox data-uri=\"DA_Inquisition_Morrigan.jpg\" height=\"675\" loading=\"lazy\" style=\"aspect-ratio: 1.7777777777777777\" width=\"1200\"><figcaption><span class=\"attribution\">Image credit: <cite>BioWare\/EA<\/cite><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>With Inquisition came the problem of Morrigan&#8217;s &#8216;Old God Baby&#8217; (that&#8217;s what the fans call them): &#8220;What [fans] really wanted was for the Old God baby to have this world-shaking importance&#8230; That, if he existed, there&#8217;s this whole entirely different ending to Inquisition. And I can&#8217;t do that. As much as I&#8217;d like to, I can only do that in the space of a novel. I can&#8217;t do that in a game,&#8221; Gaider explained.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"injection_placeholder\" data-position=\"1\"><\/span><\/p>\n<p>If you continue to make sequels that empower players by giving them meaningful choices, return to the same setting, and have legacy characters show up, the problem only becomes even bigger. &#8220;It&#8217;s either irrelevant or not enough,&#8221; Gaider concluded before adding he loved writing callbacks &#8220;like with Alistair&#8217;s mom&#8221; nonetheless. It&#8217;s just a tricky thing to pull off in a way which satisfies veterans, at least within the constraints of large-scale game dev.<\/p>\n<p>As one of the key architects behind the Dragon Age series, Gaider has never shied away from discussing the world of Thedas and BioWare&#8217;s past and present. Eurogamer&#8217;s past conversations with the creative shed light on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/bioware-knew-the-deepest-secrets-of-dragon-age-lore-20-years-ago-and-locked-it-away-in-an-uber-plot-doc\">20-year-old secrets<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/who-is-qualified-to-make-a-world-in-search-of-the-magic-of-maps\">the creation of maps for the first three games<\/a>, and continue to be great reads if you&#8217;re passionate about Dragon Age.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Home News Dragon Age II &#8220;It always feels like it&#8217;s never enough&#8221; Dragon Age creator David Gaider explains the problem with world states and reactivity Stacked-up choices. Image credit: BioWare\/EA News by Fran Ruiz Contributor Published on March 9, 2026 12 comments Follow Dragon Age II No matter what your feelings on Dragon Age: The [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,253],"class_list":["post-1815749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-eurogamer-net"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815749","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1815749"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1815749\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1815749"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1815749"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1815749"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}