Dragon Age creator David Gaider says RPGs with branching stories are a myth

Dragon Age creator David Gaider says RPGs, including Dragon Age, that honor past choices never give true divergent plots, a narrative feature that he thinks is impossible

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Dragon Age creator David Gaider says RPGs, including Dragon Age, that honor past choices never give true divergent plots, a narrative feature that he thinks is simply impossible, at least on a scale as large as Dragon Age’s. Gaider made the comment in a lengthy thread on Bluesky where he discussed the thought and planning that went into deciding how Morrigan’s big choice at the end of Dragon Age Origins would affect the world.

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This piece includes spoilers for Morrigan’s story in Origins, so if you’d rather not see them, take a look at how BioWare’s world-building changed in Dragon Age Veilguard instead.

“Here's the thing about honouring previous game choices, from a design perspective: it's a sucker's game,” Gaider said on Bluesky. “What many fans picture, when you mention it, is divergent *plot* -- the story changes path based on those major choices. How exciting! But you will never be able to deliver divergent plot.”

“You can deliver flavour differences (usually in the form of divergent dialogue), character swaps (character X appears instead of Y), and extra content (such as a side quest),” he continued. “But plot branching, particularly the critical path? It's a question of resources, and there's never enough to go around.”

Gaider said Inquisition players probably expected “momentous” consequences from their Morrigan choice. How could they not, after she bore a child with the soul of an Archdemon? The team discussed it and planned alternate scenes, a new story path, and more, before deciding it wasn’t worth devoting that many resources to a choice that only a small number of players would’ve made in Origins anyway. Even if they did, it would only lead to a bigger problem for the next game, when they had to decide how this divergence would influence the narrative there.

Gaider said he eventually landed on the solution – making the subplot about Morrigan instead of her child. That created a scenario where the demon baby could influence what happened during Morrigan’s confrontation with Flemeth, but not to a degree that the outcome had world-changing significance. He thinks the outcome was “underwhelming” from a plot divergence perspective, but said Morrigan’s actor, Claudia Black, turned it into one of the most emotionally intense scenes in the series.

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What Gaider says makes sense even on a smaller scale. If you look at Baldur’s Gate 3, for example, the number of actual plot divergence points is quite small, and Larian limits them primarily to the game’s ending. Shadowheart’s attitude, the Shadowlands’ fate, and what happens to Isobel and the Nightsong might influence a few outcomes in the moment, but the party heads to Baldur’s Gate no matter what you do. Well, assuming you don’t let Gale explode, but even then, the wizard’s early detonation just ends the game without adding new story paths.