Dragon Age: The Veilguardwill see a return of the relationship metre, a visible tracker of the relationship between the protagonist and their companions.
The Dragon Age series has flirted with different variations of the metre: Dragon Age: Origins had a simple tracker that showed how much a companion approved or disapproved of the Warden. The system in Origins is close to the one present in Veilguard’s, but the latter has a couple of additional features.
Dragon Age 2 had a dual Friendship/Rivalry system that allowed the player to grow a friendly or competitive relationship, creating a situation where some companions don’t like Hawke but they still respect them enough to follow. Inquisition had a system similar to Origins, except the numbers weren’t visible, a frustrating design choice.
The Metre Returns
According toGame Informer, The Veilguard will have a regular and visible relationship metre. As in the series' other instalments, the opinion of companions on Rook will change depending on the player’s choices in general, not necessarily just decisions regarding that companion.
Companions will now have relationship levels that can be accessed at tiered growth points in the relationship. These levels allow you to invest a skill point in one of five relationship abilities, but you can only bring three into combat.
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Game director Corinne Busch says that non-romantic friendships are key in The Veilguard because the group are found family and need to have one another’s backs. She adds that you’ll have opportunities to push platonic relationships into romantic territory by flirting, but every individual romance has a unique flavour. Meanwhile, art director Matt Rhodes hints that companion’s issues and personal quests will stem from their relationship level with Rook.
The developers are painting a rosy picture of the relationships within The Veilguard, but will there be scope for negative interactions (and the consequences of these conversations) between members of the team?
It would appear from previous developer comments that companions may leave temporarily but will ultimately return because of the existential threat the team is facing (thanks,TheGamer). I imagine this is also tied to the relationship level system, i.e. you can have negative interactions with characters that have temporary consequences but everyone is somewhat united in the end.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard doesn’t have a concrete release date yet but it is expected sometime this Fall.
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