BioWare has revealed why companions cannot be controlled in Dragon Age: The Veilguard, despite this being a crucial part of the experience in previous games. Although the number of party members has been reduced from three to two, the developers feel that controlling companions in Veilguard would detract from the player experience.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard Companions Were Too Technically Demanding
Companions have been an integral part of The Veilguard experience, with players “absolutely unable to save the world without these characters.” However, BioWare wanted players to role-play as the new playable character, Benteng, and focus on their actions, leading to some issues.
Game director Corinne Busche told Edge magazine that Dragon Age: The Veilguard “is a much higher-action-per-minute game. It’s more technically demanding on the player. So when we tried to give you full control over your companions, what we found is that it didn’t really add to the experience. In fact, in some ways, it detracted, given the demanding nature of controlling your own character.” She added that players are “more engaged than ever” when control over party members is removed.
However, players can still dictate their companions’ behavior during battles. Busche used the returning companion, Lace Harding, as an example: “She has her own behavior; how she prioritizes targets, whether she gets up close and draws aggro or stays back within her range. But you can direct her in combat by activating her abilities from the wheel.”
The lack of control over characters does have some benefits. Companions can continue to have their own lives and paths in the world. They will have their own storylines with villains and different characters scattered throughout the game world. Players may encounter these examples; you may find Neve investigating a kidnapping case in Minrathous, for instance. Players can engage with these storylines, but if not, the storyline may resolve itself and impact the story and character relationships in the future.