Dragon Age: The Veilguard won't let players have full control over their companions, but BioWare says that's because there's so much to do that it doesn't want you to be overwhelmed
Dragon Age: The Veilguard won't let players have full control over their companions, but BioWare says that's because there's so much to do that it doesn't want you to be overwhelmed
49 Comments
Uhhh… Dragon age origins is the formula you should be copying
i.e. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is purely an action game.
Remember when every upcoming game didn’t have a rage bait article? Remember when gaming outlets got you actually excited for a game before they figured out rage bait and hate got them better clicks?
I mean it worked for Mass Effect. Maybe it could work here
Sadly, Bioware is dead
Everything indicates that this game will be a generic action game with unbearable characters making jokes all the time
Depends what they mean by that. If we can set up some AI behavior like the previous games then it doesn’t bother me. I guess if we can’t but their AI is good then that’s ok too. If we can’t tune our party members and they stand there like useless lumps it will be a massive fail though.
>that’s because there’s so much to do that it doesn’t want you to be overwhelmed
Is that’s a serious reason? Have you seen the number of gamers willing to go 100% completion?
Imagine releasing a brain dead button-masher after Baldur’s Gate 3 proved that actual RPGs can still be viable.
It’s not that action RPGs are bad, but we don’t get *that* many CRPG series and as a CRPG fan it’s sad to see Dragon Age become one.
That said, the devs are probably right that I don’t want to control other party members in an action RPG. I don’t know that there’s a lot to be mad at here, other than the genre switch we already knew about.
There’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to switch control mid-battle, though. That’s what the Final Fantasy VII Remake lets you do.
Oh, look, ANOTHER big red flag served up as a Good Thing.
I already played a better version of…whatever THIS is supposed to be, and it’s called BALGURS GATE 3!!!!!!!!!!!!
I get it. I get it. But I don’t like it.
Think I gotta see what the combat is like before I pass judgement
Shitty ragebait title
That’s why you make … a pause button
So add real-time with pause. I seem to recall previous games having some success with it.
We can’t handle it?! Watching that little bit a gameplay, the f’n A.I. doesn’t look like it can handle it either. They weren’t doing any damage or half their attacks missed.
Whether you prefer CRPGs or action games, I am at least glad BioWare made a clear choice here between the two. Worst thing would be for BioWare to try and appease both sides, meaning you end up with an awkward mix of action and tactical which just doesn’t work.
i am glad that final fantasy rebirth allowed the party rotations. Games with a party dynamic lose it when you dont directly control the characters.
They’re really dedicated to ruining this franchise.
This is gonna be hot garbage. Dragon age origins, do you see what’s being done in your name?
My issue with this as it was in inquisition is how it limits what the player can do due to the games ai limitations. Inquisition you could only have 6 abilities at a time. Even if you had more, you could only use those you bound. If you didn’t want an ability used, don’t bind it. Problem is the AI was fucking terrible at how to use some of them. Abilities that should be useful weren’t because you had no say it how it was used.
One example was warriors had a chain grab. Using it to grab far away enemies was great. Problem was the AI would just spam it randomly on whatever was around. Most spells were examples as well. AI mages weren’t very good at using their abilities. Barrier was ok, because you could get one per fight usually, but otherwise it would get spammed on cd regardless of.being useful at that time. Mages had a lot of situational spells where the AI could never recognize the situations.
In the previous two games we weren’t limited to 6 abilities and we had the tactic system to control how the AI acted if the player didn’t control them. It made the situational abilities far more useful.
Unless they are bringing back the tactic system, they better have a fucking great AI system.
FF7 remake figured it out, but I guess that’s asking a lot
This game is DOA. Each piece of news emerging shows the Devs justifying taking away core features and options from the player.
The more I learn about this game the more it sounds like ass
Hopefully you can “program” companion behavior a la FF12
Sounds like its not for me.
>hey guys, looks at the success larian has been having with old school, party and turn based rpgs! we should revive our revered crpg franchise, but make it god of war!
I already can tell this will not be a good game.
BG3 just proved gamers still have a thirst for tactical combat and controlling multiple characters. Would it really have killed Bioware to make a game more similar to DA:1 than DA:2 again?
It feels like Final Fantasy XVI all over again.
Hard pass
what a letdown… what a downgrade from origins and even less good dragon age games, what a shitty decision… and such a poor excuse… you could have tactical pause and play perfectly with many characters to control ! just like origins !
and bye the synergy between skills and such between your companions and you.
fuck this !
Tell that to the streamer I watched beat Elden Ring DLC final boss simultaneously with a controller and dance pad.
Just dropped the whole identity of the series, the tactical combat with pause was the most unique feature in the franchise. Bioware truly is dead and buried.
Only played Inquisition and the main reason I liked to control other characters is to try other classes out on just one play through. The tactical combat was nice but I enjoyed switching characters more for the variety. Not being able to switch characters is a big loss IMO. And also, the combat didn’t look too difficult based on the trailer… only three special moves compared to 8 in Inquisition?? We will see I guess.
Man it’s not even the fact we can’t control the companions.
Companions are just there for flavor now — they have no mechanical purpose. For a game that’s apparently supposed to hit the mid-range around level 40, your companions have a grand total of FIVE ABILITIES.
That’s right you “level up” your companions a total of five times.
Do they level up based on experience? No that would be stupid. Instead your companions level up based on your friendship and relationship with them.
Because nothing makes more sense from a mechanical or lore perspective then “yes I know we’re fighting a massive demon enemy, but you haven’t been particularly nice to me so I’m not gonna use abilities I have access to.”
This game is the ultimate betrayal of the series. It is made entirely for the fanfic fans that want to read smut about the companions having sex.
Well it looks like BioWare is saving me some money.
I’m guessing the game was going to be online with 2-3 friends and sometime early on that was scrapped but not after the framework was made. Outside of a few fights here and there I was able to not use any tactical controls through honor mode on inquisition. As long as my team mates take on more supportive roles like tanking and shielding, that should be fine. I hope they add more of an enhancement and buff roles for our team mates though.
Don’t really care as long as I can set up good tactics in their ai, like in origins. Just let me setup the conditions and actions myself
This is definitely a bit of a rage bait title for this article.
Basically this game handles combat and companion control in a similar way as Mass Effect. You generally play the game as a realtime action game, but you can hold down a button to pause the game and pull up the combat wheel to use companion abilities.
Up to personal preference on if you prefer tactical with pause or action combat. I think it’ll just come down to whether it’s fun or not.
Baldur’s Gate 3 already leaving its mark, better to change genres completely than be compared to excellence.
That’s lame. A lot of the fun is being able to control party members because you can try out different classes and builds on the fly when you get bored.
Translation: an exec decided to change the genre of the game and the devs will lose their jobs when it bombs
Red flag the game lmao.
If only there were a way to pre-program actions. Or maybe even push a button to pause combat so you can make decisions. Then the player could decide for themselves how much action they can handle. Naw, that couldn’t possibly be done.
RIP Dragon Age
I don’t think there is one case where they telling you what you can’t do and the subsequent explanation has ended well.