In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, you will only control one character – your own. The companions will act on their own.
When thinking back to the first Dragon Age, one certainly has memories of the great story and the challenging, tactical RPG battles. You could take control of each party member and plan every step in combat very precisely.
However, this will not be the case in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. You will only be able to control your own character. The reason: You would be overwhelmed otherwise.
What was said? In a conversation with Edge magazine, Game Director Corinne Busch spoke in more detail about the companions in Dragon Age: The Veilguard. They are meant to act quite independently (via gamesradar.com):
You are in this world, you are very focused on your own actions. We wanted the companions to feel like they are complete characters who have control over their own actions. They make their own decisions.
This makes Dragon Age: The Veilguard distinctly different from the previous games in the series. While they had already become increasingly action-oriented, this time it seems they are taking it up a notch, as it continues:
[The game] requires significantly more actions per minute. It places greater technical demands on the player. When we tried to give you control over the companions as well, we realized that it didn’t really help the player experience. In fact, it hurt in some cases, considering how demanding it is to control your character alone.
In other words: You would simply be overwhelmed if you also had to control the companions.
How was it in the past? In the first part of Dragon Age, it was common to switch to a tactical view during combat. Here you could sequentially select an action for all characters, including companions, and then let the time continue. For many, this was a “true RPG experience” that required significantly more planning. In the second part, this feature was still present in traces, but the tactical view and strategic approach were simply unnecessary in most cases. The second Dragon Age played more like an action RPG in the style of Diablo, and “Inquisition” only reinforced this trend.
However, it remains to be seen whether it truly seems that managing your own character is already fully occupying you. After all, you can modify the characters in Dragon Age: The Veilguard a little and equip them with your own abilities – at least if you are kind to your companions.
