Players of Dragon Age: Veilguard will not have complete control over their companions. BioWare states that it aims to avoid overwhelming users with excessive responsibilities during gameplay.
In an interview with Edge magazine, game director Corinne Boucher elaborated on why Dragon Age: The Veilguard is stepping away from the party control formula used in previous titles, even as the number of companions is reduced from three to two.
“You are in this world, and you really focus on your actions. We wanted companions to feel like fully realized characters who control their own actions. They make their own decisions... This is a game with a much higher actions-per-minute rate. It’s technically more demanding on the player. So, when we tried to allow you to have complete control over your companions, we found that it didn't enhance the experience; in fact, it was somewhat detrimental, given the demands of controlling your own character.”
Boucher acknowledges that the significance of this change might seem daunting, but this decision is backed by BioWare's testing:
“I recognize that if you simply read that you cannot control your companions, it may not sound very appealing. However, during our testing and feedback sessions with players, we found that they are more engaged than ever.”
Even without complete control over the characters, players will still be able to influence some of their actions during combat. Their abilities can be activated with the command wheel. The developer provides an example: one companion casts a gravity well spell, another slows down time, and then the player launches an AoE attack on the grouped and slowed enemies.
This is a significant gameplay change, but the talk of high engagement and complexity is intriguing. It will be interesting to see this in the game or in a detailed demonstration.
Source: GamesRadar
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