Some new gameplay information surrounding Dragon Age: The Veilguard has been revealed alongside various option features players can expect in the game. BioWare says a full list of accessibility toggles will be revealed closer to the game’s launch in October but for now, has confirmed a set of in-game options apart from those.
The information comes from the latest Q&A on Discord where BioWare answered some burning questions from fans. It covers companions, relationships, nudity toggles, combat, transmog and more. Shinobi on X summarised the information across the different categories.
Options and Customization
- You can pause during cutscenes
- You can choose your undergarments in the character creator, toggle nudity ON/OFF
- You can refund all your skill points to respec other specializations if you want
- Full list of accessibility features coming in the future before launch
- There are a lot of ‘faction items’ (gear tied to factions) that become available as you help other factions get stronger, like armour from the
- Veil Jumpers faction that looks like it was made by Veil Jumpers and may be connected (like having electric damage)
- Full transmog system: any piece of gear you find unlocks the appearance of that gear, and some can be cosmetic only (ex: you can dress up to look like a training dummy)
- You can also transmog both armour and casual wear, so if you want to walk around the Lighthouse in full armour, you can
- You can save a character you create in the creator so you don’t have to start from scratch every time, though it is local to your console/PC as Veilguard is an offline game
- Lots of praise for the hair tech, there are some “incredible” beards in the character creator, like grander Dwarven-style beards (braids, beads, etc)
- You can hide things like combat damage numbers, minimap, wayfinding markers, health bar, incoming attack indicators, and more
- All helmets can be worn by all races with one exception: Qunari face paint (there are many variants)
- Each armour piece has standard colours, but most of them have a variety of colour variant cosmetics (often aligned with the different factions)
- Your in-game surname is based on your faction background choice and gets mentioned in dialogue a decent amount
Exploration
- Critical story missions are more linear so they can be highly handcrafted
- There are several large explorable open areas like Arlathan Forest, The Hossberg Wetlands, Crossroads, etc)
- Each companion has unique abilities outside of combat that can help you during exploration, puzzles, etc
Companions
- Taash (the female Qunari) is the youngest (the early 20s), Emmerich (grey-haired mage) is the oldest in his early 50s
- Davrin (Grey Warden companion) is stern, thoughtful and considerate but also has a soft side. He has a strong sense of pride and maybe a rivalry with certain other companions. He is also a dedicated and gifted monster hunter
- There are no romanceable NPCs outside of the companions as the team wanted the romance to focus on them
- Teased that companions having more strange abilities may have something to do with the Veil being in bad shape and more magic coming back to the world through the tears
- There are many organic relationships between companions that develop throughout the game, for example: Neve and Bellara form a sisterly bond, which Taash and Emmerich have great banter and don’t see eye to eye on necromancy at all
- There’s no ‘hug companion’ button, but there are instances where you can hug companions
- Gifts return, you can find items out in the world in specific locations that you can buy and are very personal to companions. These gifts will also be reflected in each of their rooms
- All companions have a personal arc and their quests are varied
- Some quests can expire based on choices you make or plot progression, but generally, the team doesn’t want you to miss out on stuff (ex: companions can show up in the world and spontaneously lead to adventures with them)
- Companion relationships with each other will develop throughout the game, like when you commit to someone romantically.
- There are various friendships and rivalries
- All the companions have favourite foods and some on the team have varied skills in cooking.
- Bellara and Lucanis are practically the team cooks, and this comes up in the game
- Companions feel like a ‘found family’, and become invested in each other which shows up in many scenes, banter, hub interactions, etc.
- The team didn’t want the game to feel like a theme park just for the player but for companions to feel like their own person and living in the world
Combat
- Combos: Mages apply weakened/overwhelmed debuffs (“primers”), and also detonate the ‘sunder’ debuff.
- Rogues apply weakened/sunder and detonate ‘overwhelmed’.
- Warriors apply ‘sundered/overwhelmed’ and detonate ‘weakened’.
- This rock-paper-scissors style relationship can be one of the benefits of having one in each class.
- Gear/skills/runes can also break this paradigm, with lots of flexibility
- Each class has two weapon slots and you can switch between them even mid-attack.
- For example, mages can use a staff or orb+dagger. You can attack with the staff then switch mid-attack to orb+dagger
- You can also use that to your advantage with elementals, for example, a fire attack then quickly switching to a necrotic orb+dagger for extra damage
- Bringing a ‘tank’ into battle isn’t required, even on harder difficulties.
- The team realized players get attached to companions and always want to bring them along every time, so they built and designed gameplay to accommodate a variety of builds and playstyles
- Mage class can learn abilities from all elements, not tied to any specialization (though specializations like Evoker can make it easier to get into ice spells for example)
- Elemental effects were a large focus while developing the game, so that meant all classes needed to be visually represented so no one felt left out (ex: rogues and warriors can seem a little more magical).
- Warriors were one of the least favourite classes so the team wanted them to be more visually interesting and impactful (you can make a build that’s more physical-based/not as flashy if you want to)
Story and Lore
- There are other griffons that show up in the game besides Assan There are many incentives for multiple playthroughs, including the three classes playing very differently, as well as choices you make affecting different outcomes, content you may or may not see based on those choices, etc
- The game doesn’t require you to have read outside lore like books, comics, etc, though these enhance the experience
- Your faction choice will open up unique dialogue options with certain companions
- Your relationship and dialogue with Solas can be more friendly or more antagonistic. Companion relationships sometimes cross over with Solas (Bellara and Davrin for example have deeper thoughts on Solas)
- Returning characters are brought back with purpose. Morrigan for example is coming to terms with reflections about herself and her mother, accepting who she is, etc
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is expected to launch on 31 October for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
