David Gaider, the creator of Dragon Age, recently shared insights into the character development of Cassandra in Dragon Age: Inquisition. He took over the writing of Cassandra after a colleague left BioWare during the game’s development.
Originally, Cassandra was being written by Jennifer Hepler, a veteran of the series. Gaider mentioned that Hepler faced harassment from some individuals during her time at BioWare, which may have contributed to her departure. Gaider found it challenging to make Cassandra, who was initially portrayed as pious and self-righteous, a character with romantic appeal. However, he was inspired by a fan-created webcomic that depicted Cassandra as a secret fan of Varric’s books, leading him to explore her idealistic and awkward passion in a different light.
In the final game, players had to convince Cassandra that they could be a normal romantic partner despite her putting the player character, the Inquisitor, on a pedestal as the Herald of Andraste and leader of the Inquisition. Gaider revealed that Cassandra was the most chosen romance option in Inquisition, while Dorian was the least chosen option.
Gaider had also previously discussed writing Dorian’s story and the personal influences that shaped the character. Additionally, there were early plans to allow players to bring their Grey Warden character from Dragon Age: Origins into Inquisition.
In a separate development, the recent release of Dragon Age: The Veilguard faced backlash that resulted in review bombing on Metacritic. The game’s user scores were negatively impacted by this backlash.
Overall, Gaider’s insights shed light on the complexities of character development in video games and how fan feedback and personal experiences can influence storytelling in the gaming industry.
