Dragon Age: The Veilguard Is Linear But Will Offer Exploration, Nudity Confirmed as Combat and Class Details Emerge

For those who played Dragon Age: Inquisition and assumed that the next game in the franchise will follow suit and be based around an open-world design, think again. BioWare has just confirmed that The Veilguard will be linear but will offer wider spaces for exploration as well.

This was confirmed by Creative Director Jon Epler when asked about the full game’s structure. According to Epler, once players get past a certain point, the game opens up “dramatically.”  Epler also talked about the Inquisition comparisons stating, “Dragon Age Inquisition was very much an open world game, and this one isn’t. And that’s partially because we wanted to make sure all the content mattered and was a more structured, sculpted experience for the player,” he said. “That said… there’s exploration. There are opportunities to go off the beaten path. There are some spaces that are fairly wide.”

In addition to that, a ton of details regarding the game’s combat, classes and more have surfaced as well.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard Combat and Class Info:

Six Factions to Choose From:

• Antivan Crows
• Grey Wardens
• Shadow Dragons
• Veil Jumpers
• Lords of Fortune
• The Mourne Watch

Each faction will offer three distinct buffs each. Examples include: being able to hold an extra potion, being able to do extra damage against certain enemies and more.

Classes:

• Warrior Class: Use a sword and shield or two handed weapon to send enemies flying
• Rogue Class: Utilizes quick movement and reflexes. You can wield a bow or dual swords with “powerful, precise strikes for lethal damage”
• Mage Class: Use magic to incinerate, freeze, electrocute and crush. Some cast from afar, while others prefer close quarters combat

Each class will also have three sub-specializations such as Duelist, Saboteur, Veil Ranger (for the Rogue class).

Expect each class to also have unique “resource systems” such as the Rogue’s “momentum” which builds up as you land consecutive hits and each one will always have a ranged option. Examples of these include: One Rogue momentum attack is a “hip fire” option we saw for the Rogue’s bow, letting you pop off arrows from the waist, Another one is a momentum attack for the Warrior lets you lob your shield at enemies

• Combat is focused on real-time action, dodge, parry, counter, “sophisticated animation canceling and branching”, using risk-reward charge attacks designed to break enemy armor layers
• Enemies have elemental weaknesses and resistances, and you can chain together elemental combos for extra damage
• Skill tree is “vast”, you can also set up specific companions with certain kits, from tackling specific enemy types to being more of a supporting healer or flexible all-rounders

In addition to the info above, it’s also been confirmed that nudity will indeed be featured in the game! Of course, given this is BioWare, we really shouldn’t be all that surprised.

There’s a ton more details that has surfaced recently which you can read about below.

Info on Quests and More:

• Quality and Performance modes confirmed for consoles.
• Fully single-player and will not feature microtransactions (at least at launch) and will not require players to link up their EA accounts in order to play the game.
• There is a hub area for the player like Skyhold and the Normandy, called The Lighthouse.
• Quests are more handcrafted and mission based, curated with alternate paths, secrets to discover and optional content.
• There are tarot cards you go through during the character creation process that will let you choose decisions from past games to implement into Veilguard.
• Party size of three during combat, ala Mass Effect.
• You don’t take direct control of companions like past Dragon Age games, but you can still pause and issues ability commands for you and your allies.
• Companions can eventually start romancing other characters if you opt not to romance them.

Character Creator:

• Play as a human, elf, dwarf, or Qunari
• “Incredibly deep” character creator: five categories including: Lineage, Appearance, Class, Faction, Playstyle
• Players can also choose different body sizes and shapes
• Dozens of hairstyles to choose from, with “individual strands of hair rendered separately and reacting quite remarkably to in-game physics”, pulled from EA Sports
• Character creator lets you adjust the lighting so you can be sure your character looks good

While BioWare has already given us a good 20-minute look at Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s gameplay, it seems that barely scratches the surface of how complex the game is.

Expect a lot more Dragon Age: The Veilguard news here on MP1st before the game is released this fall on the PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC.

[Source: Game File (subscription required), shinobi602]

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