With the launch of Dragon Age: The Veilguard this fall, BioWare continues to release details of all the changes in the fourth game in the series. One very obvious change is the highly action-oriented combat that has been the subject of much discussion among fans (including my own group chat). In particular, "Veilguard" focuses the combat more narrowly, with only the player character, Luc, directly in control; according to BioWare, this change was made because the faster pace of the combat makes it more difficult for the player to manage the entire party.

As we saw in the first Vale Guard gameplay reveal, the combat is indeed quite fast. Characters unleash spells and fly around acrobatically. Joshua Warrens even compared it to "Mass Effect" when he saw it in action. There is still a real-time element with pauses, where you can bring up a radial menu and release your own skills or order your companions to use theirs, but real-time fighting is limited to the look. Your companions all do their own thing with you. [Game director Corinne Busch said in the latest issue of Edge magazine, Issue 401, "We want you to feel like you're in the look, to be in the world, to focus on what you're doing.

"We wanted our fellow players to feel like fully realized characters, in control of their own actions," said game director Corinne Busch in the latest issue of Edge magazine, issue #401.

That sounds to me like a very convenient narrative explanation for what was likely a technical decision, not a storytelling decision. To Edge's credit, that is what pushed him to push back on the bushel.

"I admit that on paper, just because it says you don't have the ability to control your peers, it may feel like something was taken away from you. But what our testing and validation with players has shown is that they are more engaged than ever," Busche said.

"The game has far more action per minute. It is more technically demanding of the player. For this reason, we tried to give the companion full control as well, but we found that it didn't really deepen the experience. In fact, in some ways it was detrimental, as just controlling your own character is hard enough.

I'm a little surprised that BioWare hasn't found a way to make swapping party member controls rewarding. One of the biggest games last year was an RPG that required players to control every member of the party, albeit turn-based, so I know there are plenty of fans willing to take on the challenge for the sake of a great cast and story.

Since you lose complete control of your party, this is a good time for BioWare to say, "Dragon: for example, use a certain skill when surrounded by enemies, or use a recovery item when your health drops below a certain level. (Dragon Age 2 and Inquisition also had tactics menus, but Inquisition had less depth.) Maybe I'm the only one who misses the Gronado-esque stuff: just kidding. I know online editor Fraser Brown does too.

Very reasonably, it is clear that the combat part of Veilguard is intended to attract someone other than me. For example, my FPS-loving colleague Morgan Park wanted to try it for the first time in a Dragon Age game. I guess this is the price to pay for new conversions.

I'm hoping that the fantasy world I've loved for 15 years and the new characters will be enough to drag me kicking and screaming into combat; in another part of Edge's new interview, BioWare has been making a point since "Anthem" to do what they do best They also say that they have learned the lesson of sticking to single-player RPGs. This is one of the things that makes me unequivocally happy.