If you’re at all familiar with the Dragon Age series, you probably already know that BioWare has experimented quite a bit with its gameplay. From the real-time strategy RPG approach of Dragon Age: Origins to the mostly city-based action experience of Dragon Age II to the strategy-action mix of Dragon Age: Inquisition, BioWare hasn’t quite defined combat in the franchise. However, there is an obvious line from Origins to Inquisition: BioWare seems to want this franchise to be action, but has tried to transition to that without abandoning its longtime fans.
With Dragon Age: The Veilguard, BioWare completed its transition from strategy to real-time action, but thanks to an optional pause-and-play tactical battle wheel that harkens back to the series’ origins, I think it found some great (battle) ground for battle in Dragon Age. Of course, it’s hard to say how Veilguard’s action will hold up in what’s sure to be a tens-of-hours-long RPG, but if what I’ve seen so far is any indication, the studio is on to something.
A change in strategy
“I think the first thing you have to keep in mind is this fight […] in the franchise is an evolution,” game director Corin Boucher tells me at BioWare’s Edmonton office. “Each entry reimagines what combat is, and I’d say our goal was to make sure we had a system that allowed players to feel like they’ve actually stepped into the world of Thedas. They are not players watching from afar – they are inside this world. As this authentic world brought to life, the combat system has to support that so that you’re in control of every single action, every block, every dodge, every swing of your sword.”
Bouchet says players perform each swing in real time, with particular attention paid to transition and undo animation. On the subject of cancellation, I’m looking at Busche “bookmark” combos with a quick dash. With this mechanic, players can pause the combo state with a dash to safety and continue the combo where they left off afterwards. Along with the board is a parry for some classes, the ability to charge moves, and a revamped healing system that allows players to quickly use potions by pressing right on the d-pad.
Bouchet says that every character will play the same way regardless of class, performing light and heavy attacks with the same buttons, using abilities with the same buttons, and interacting with the combo wheel in the same way. During my demo, at one point we use a Warrior Qunari with a sword and shield, who fires from his hips and points his shield to throw it like Captain America while dealing heavy sword damage. Pressing the same buttons as a mage can cast magical ranged attacks instead of a shield.
Abilities such as a warrior’s spartan kick or a wizard’s wall of continuous damage add to the player’s repertoire of combat options. Warriors can parry incoming attacks, staggering their enemies in the process. Rogues have a larger parry window, and mages can’t parry at all, instead raising a shield that blocks all incoming damage as long as they have the mana to keep the shield up.
“It’s just the baseline that allows us to achieve that level of immersion of ‘I’m actually in this world; I’m part of it,” says Bouchet. “But again, the abilities, the strategy, linking the abilities of my companions to perform devastating combos, that’s really where the depth and complexity come into play.”
Abilities and the skill tree
Warrior Rook Skill Tree
This extends to companions, which you choose to bring three abilities (out of a total of five) into battle, performed with either quick select buttons or the pause-and-play battle wheel. Every time you raise a companion’s relationship level, you unlock a skill point to spend specifically on that companion – this is how you unlock new combat abilities.
While the companion skill trees pale in comparison to Rook’s extensive tree, which includes passive abilities, combat abilities, and more, as well as paths to three unique class specializations, there’s still some customization here.
You can find the cannon and companion skill tree in the Veilguard start or pause menu. This menu contains pages for the Veilguard map, journal, character sheets, and lore library. Here you can compare gear and equip new gear for the cannon and companions, create weapon sets, and customize your abilities and builds through the aforementioned skill tree, which seems relatively easy to understand.
You won’t find details here, “just real numbers,” says Bouchet. In other words, a newly unlocked trait can increase damage by 25% against armor, but that’s only as deep as the numbers. Passive abilities unlock jump attacks and guarantee critical strike opportunities, while abilities add moves like shield and spartan kicks to your arsenal. As you refine this skill tree, which is 100% specific to each class, you’ll work your way closer to unlocking a specialization (which doesn’t require hitting the max level of 50). Each class has three specializations, each with a unique ultimate ability. Boucher says BioWare’s philosophy with the skill tree is “about changing the way you play, not about the statistical details.”
Companions in battle
If you completely ignore your companions in battle, they will attack targets, use abilities, and defeat enemies on their own. “[Companions] are their own people, says Bouchet. “They have their own behavior, they have their own autonomy on the battlefield, they choose their own targets. As their plots progress, they’ll learn how to use their abilities more competently, and you really feel like you’re fighting alongside these realized characters in battle.”
Speaking about the accompanying synergy, Bouchet adds, “I see all of Harding’s abilities and I see everything that Bellara is capable of. And sometimes I use vulnerabilities synergistically. Maybe I stop or slow time with Bellara so she can unleash devastating attacks with Harding, knocking the enemy down, and then I, as a top, rush in and take advantage of this setup they’ve created for me. It’s a game about creating that organic sense of teamwork.”
Bouchet says there are more explicit synergies, with deliberate combinations where specific companions can counter each other, and you can queue up their abilities to do just that. That’s what the pause and play battle wheel in Veilguard is for.
In this screen, which pauses the camera and pulls out a glowing battle wheel that highlights your skills and those of your companions, you can select abilities, queue them up, and strategize with synergies and combos that the game recognizes as you head towards specific enemies. Choose what you want and spin the wheel to watch your selections play out.
Putting it all together
During a mission in Arlathan Forest after the Veilguard prologue, Busche uses the Veilguard’s double charge mechanic. As a Rook, you can create two weapon loads for quick switching during combat. As a mage Rook, she uses magical attacks to add three stacks of Arcane Accumulation to make an Arcane Bomb on the Sentinel, a mechanical armor set possessed by a demon. If you hit the Sentinel’s Arcane Bomb with a heavy attack, the enemy will take devastating damage. Once the Sentinel has an Arcane Bomb on her, Busche starts a heavy attack on her Magic Staff, then switches to Magic Daggers in Rook’s second charge, accessible with a quick tap down on the d-pad to unleash some quick light attacks , then back to the staff to finish his attack. She then unleashes the heavy attack and the Arcane Bomb explodes in a liquid vortex of green magic.
“I’ve seen [Veilguard’s combat] refined over time [and] I love it,” BioWare General Manager Gary McKay tells me. “I love that balance of fluid real-time action, but also the ability to have depth in an RPG, not just in terms of pause and play, but depth in terms of the way you bring your companions onto the battlefield. What will you do with their skill points? What is the load you will be using? It’s all about bringing Rook to the center of the battlefield, and I love that.”
Former Dragon Age executive producer and Veilguard consultant Mark Darrah believes that Veilguard is the first game where combat is legitimately fun. “What I see in Veilguard is a game that finally bridges the gap,” he says. “Unfortunately, previous Dragon Age games have reached the realm of ‘the combat wasn’t that bad.’ In this game, the combat is actually fun, but it retains that thread that has always been there. Your focus is on the cannon, on your character, but you still have that control and character that comes into the combat experience from the other people in your group. .”
Watching Bouchet play several hours of Veilguard, I get the sense that BioWare has designed a combat system that relies heavily on players getting what they want out of it. If you’re willing to mash buttons and use abilities freely when the cooldown is up, you can probably progress just fine (albeit on the game’s easier difficulties). But if you want to strategize your combos, take advantage of elemental vulnerabilities and min-max companions and cannon charges, you can do that too, and I think you’ll find Veilguard rewards that with a more enriching experience.
For more information on the game, including exclusive details, interviews, video features and more, click the Dragon Age: The Veilguard hub button below.
