Decision-making is the largest part of what makes an RPG feel different from your typical action/adventure experience. You decide what your character looks like, whether you want to be a hero or villain, which companions you'll favour, and which ones may even turn their backs on you. The best RPGs let you go down whatever path you like, but make you feel like whatever bed you're lying in is one you've made. According to RPG veteran and Dragon Age setting creator David Gaider, this is something some games have lost in recent years.
Speaking with PC Gamer about how Dragon Age: The Veilguard didn't come packed with enough friction among the party and companions, Gaider explained this is part of a wider trend. "That sort of sentiment was getting stronger and stronger even as Dragon Age went along. This idea that, 'Oh, we can't let the player accidentally screw themselves.' I think that was part and parcel with, 'We need to have as broad a player base as possible, so we can't make it too difficult. We can't let the player get themselves into a position where now they can't finish the game,'" he said.
"This idea that we can't permanently take someone out of a group, that followers have to be agreeable for purely gameplay reasons, runs contrary against the thing that made BioWare games most popular. The earlier games, all the reviews that came out, they always talked about the amazing characters. So why not just lean into what you do best, rather than trying to lean away from it in order to make other things more broadly acceptable? If you're not making a game for the audience that loves those games, you're trying to make this game acceptable to some action gamer who, what, doesn't like difficulty? Who is that?" Gaider continued.
When you look at Baldur's Gate III, arguably the best example of a recent RPG success, it's clear that friction and decisions with consequences are at the heart of the game. Even if the main narrative is quite linear in how you pursue it, the interactions you have with your cast of companions are sure to make every playthrough unique, and leave people rolling up a new character hundreds of hours later.