Summary
Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s companions can unlock new abilities through their relationship with the player character. Here, approval is handled through “Relationship Levels”, which award the player a skill point to use each time this ranks up.
These skill points will then be used on the companion you’re growing close to. This is used to unlock new abilities for the companion, which you can then get them to deploy in combat.
This information comes to us viaGame Informer, who had the chance to play some more of Dragon Age: The Veilguard afterthe initial previews at Summer Game Fest. Here, it’s shared that companions have a range of combat abilities, which are unlocked when you rank up a Relationship Level.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Relationship Ranks Unlock New Abilities
It’s unclear if this will be theonlyway we can level up our companions. In fact, given the wording, it’s possible we won’t actually be levelling up our companions in the traditional sense. Instead, it sounds like we’ll just be unlocking new powers for them to use in combat, like a toned-down version ofDragon Age: Inquisition.
This signals a huge shift in how Dragon Age handles combat. We already knew that we’d be controlling our companions a lot less, simply issuing commands rather than moving them around ourselves. We’re also only travelling with two companions at once this time, bringing the parties down from four to three, likeMass Effect.
However, despite these changes, this is not the first time that our relationships with companions have influenced their performance in combat. All the way back inDragon Age: Origins, companions would gain buffs to particular attributes if they liked you enough. In Dragon Age 2, you could gain unique abilities by maxing out either the friendship or rival metres with your companions.
In any case, we’ll see exactly how this is handled in Dragon Age: The Veilguard when it launches later this year. Right now, we don’t have an exact release date, but we know that it’s going to be with us in the autumn.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard
WHERE TO PLAY
Dragon Age: The Veilguard is the long-awaited fourth game in the fantasy RPG series from BioWare formerly known as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. A direct sequel to Inquisition, it focuses on red lyrium and Solas, the aforementioned Dread Wolf.
