Okay so I've been writing things down when I've been playing because there's been so many pieces of information in this game that just straight up don't make sense and contradict one another and it got me thinking about how people like to scream "but it's the result of like three different stop/go projects and ten years!" And that that somehow makes up for the massive inconsistencies and frankly, lack of continuity issues in the game.
Now, sine it's just easier to put my points in bullet format, that's what I'll do. This is just what I can recall off the top of my head and this does show inconsistencies that might be a result of stop/go projects and the like. With regards to voice actors/directors/scripting etc. Because as well all know (or at least, should know) these projects can be massive and they encompass many different departments etc. But! This is just Veil Jumper related stuff:
- If playing a Veil Jumper Rook, we automatically know that they have been with Varric and Harding for "the better part of a year" (so says Solas). And we know that there was a big to-do that made them leave the Veil Jumpers and go with Varric. There was a big spat with Strife (heh) and there was a destroyed map involved, etc. Thus, leading us to believe that Rook had spent at least some measurable amount of time with the Veil Jumpers prior to leaving with Varric.
- If playing a non-Veil Jumper Rook, Harding will introduce Strife & Irelin to Rook and say that they met them "while hunting Solas" (there's a whole comic about this) and she introduces them as Veil Jumpers. So, it's pretty much established that Veil Jumpers have been around a while.
- When meeting Bellara (the Veil Jumper's best artifact handler) however, even a non-Veil Jumper Rook doesn't know her. And even though Arlathan Forest is pretty big and the Veil Jumpers could, in theory, be spread out. It's still a relatively small organization and everyone pretty much as at least heard of one another. Bellara has even heard of a VJ Rook. So, it's assumed that she joined while Rook was away.
- Bellara was also already a Veil Jumper when Cyrian died. But, the way it is spoken of, this was something that happened early in her "career".
- That all being established - this is where things get... messy timeline wise.
- Bellara will tell whoever your 3rd companion is on your way to Di'Meta's Crossing, while explaining about Tevinter Magisters and Blood Magic and the War etc. that whatever Solas did "stirred everything up again".
- Bellara will also mention that Arlathan started "going bad" right around the time of Solas' ritual. (Though I can't remember exactly when she says this).
- Strife will also tell Morrigan that the "troubles" began "about the time Solas' ritual went wrong".
- Bellara also tells Davrin that the Veil Jumpers haven't been around that long - that they started "shortly before Solas' big ritual".
- There's a lot of other comments like this regarding when the Veil Jumpers started and when things in Arlathan started to "rot" or "go bad". And it all pretty much gets pointed to "right around" or "shortly before" Solas' big ritual. Which... doesn't make a lot of sense. I mean, the going bad makes sense, sort of. His wild magic explosion/release can make things go wonky but the start of the Veil Jumpers is what doesn't make sense.
These are the kind of things that can be the result of stop/go projects. Scripts being edited and re-edited etc. (However, it is still the responsibility of the lead writer/project lead to make sure these kinds of inconsistencies are either addressed or are not there in the first place.)
What aren't the result of the aforementioned are things like...
Getting canon completely and 100% wrong and not just wrong but contradicting it with regards to the Qun and Tevinter Slavery. (Saying slavery is illegal in Tevinter when it isn't, saying people can just leave the Qun when they very much can't, etc.)
Doing things that are just irksome like going through the trouble of building all the underwater spaces completely, the water etc and the animations/whatever of Rook drowning vs. just letting them fucking swim.
Consciously removing anything uncomfortable in the game world. Slavery, the Qun, Elven persecution, etc.
Not informing the player (because a lot of them are new to the DA world) about how the Blight has worked in every single game/book/comic until now. As in, it spreads and is contagious and doesn't just stop at a city's borders. (Which is why a Warden Rook would never chose Minrathous over Treviso.) Also, on that same note, putting up a splash screen of "Blighted Minrathous" and then us never seeing the Blight in Minrathous again until the very end of the game when Elgar'nan blights the city.
Taking a complex, in-depth, massive world and just cutting away parts that make you feel icky - that is not the result of start/stop projects. That's the result of... hell, I don't even know. It'd be like someone making the next Resident Evil game and there suddenly never having been an Umbrella Corporation and there inexplicably being no mention of them. And suddenly, these things that are running around don't actually kill people - they just freeze them or something. Resident Evil fans would be screaming "WTF?!" And they'd, rightfully, be ticked off. And the project lead, after costing their company over 200 million dollars, not just in lost projected sales but in literal money cost to make the game, would get fired. Because that's what happens when you fuck up so monumentally.
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