The Veilguard’s Lyrium Dagger Solves a Companion Problem

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home November 8, 2024 6 Views 8 Min Read
The Veilguard's Lyrium Dagger Solves a Companion Problem



Key Takeaways

  • Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s companions have unique exploration skills embedded in the Lyrium Dagger.
  • Each companion offers a different skill, enhancing exploration and solving puzzles in various ways.
  • The Lyrium Dagger allows players to access companion exploration skills at all times, freeing up party compositions.



Companions have almost always been a prominent feature in BioWare’s games, and that much is still true of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Like the titles before it, BioWare’s latest installment in the Dragon Age series lets players recruit a diverse group of companions who can assist in battle and exploration. Unlike past BioWare games, however, Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘s companions have a unique partnership with one of the most notable items in the game’s story — Solas’ Lyrium Dagger.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘s Lyrium Dagger may be a significant element of the game’s story, but it also has a large hand in exploration. This is largely due to a unique system BioWare has created for Dragon Age: The Veilguard that turns the Lyrium Dagger into a Swiss Army Knife for exploration by combining its powers with those of the player’s companions. It is a massive leap ahead of the companions of BioWare’s past, as it solves an age-old problem that has been around for decades.


Dragon Age The Veilguard logo over Solas portal

Related
The Unwritten Rules of Dragon Age: The Veilguard Explained

Players should be aware of several unwritten rules about Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s combat and exploration before diving into its blighted world.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Lyrium Dagger Makes Companion Exploration Skills Permanent

Each Companion in Dragon Age: The Veilguard Has a Unique Exploration Skill

Dragon Age: The Veilguard may not be an open-world game, but there is still plenty of exploration to be done in its rendition of Thedas. Most of its hub areas have a surprising amount of depth, complemented by somewhat hidden paths and plenty of puzzles that act as gatekeepers for valuable rewards. While many of Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘s more rewarding areas can be discovered and explored simply by covering every inch of ground available, other areas require a special skill that only the player’s companions possess.


For example, Davrin’s skill, Griffin Handler, calls Davrin’s Griffin Assan to dig for items, activate mechanisms and disrupt blight tendrils. When activated, Assan swoops out of the air and fulfills his task, depending on what players were targeting when they called him. Lucanis’ ability, Spite, allows him to tap into the divide between the Fade and create new paths for players to travel. These are just two examples of the seven companions’ exploration skills, each of which is very helpful as players traverse Thedas in search of mysteries.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Lyrium Dagger Allows Players to Use Companion Exploration Skills at All Times

Companion-specific exploration abilities are nothing new in the role-playing genre, but that goes especially for BioWare. In the past, players have had to take specific companions with them on a journey if they wished to take advantage of one of that companion’s skills. For instance, players may not wish to invest in a lockpicking skill for their character, and might therefore need to rely on one of their companions who has a high enough lockpicking skill if they come across a locked chest or door they wish to open.


Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic is a great example of this concept in action, as there are doors players may not be able to access early on in the game unless they allot the appropriate number of points to their character’s Security skill. If their Security skill isn’t high enough, they’re forced to rely on companions who do have a high enough Security skill, but it still only means something as long as that companion is present in the party.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard
does things differently with the
Lyrium Dagger
, as it essentially makes each companion’s exploration ability permanent.


Once players have recruited a companion in Dragon Age: The Veilguard and completed their prologue quest, that companion’s exploration ability is embedded into the Lyrium Dagger. From that point on, players can use the Lyrium Dagger to manipulate any obstacle that might have once, in BioWare’s past, required that companion to be present in the party in order to activate it. This unique mechanic effectively results in one less variable for players to consider when selecting their party composition, thereby allowing them more freedom to play Dragon Age: The Veilguard the way they see fit.

It will be interesting to see whether BioWare incorporates Dragon Age: The Veilguard‘s Lyrium Dagger concept in its future games, especially the next Mass Effect, as the mechanic could potentially add even more depth to its companion system and exploration. As the desire for freedom in gameplay continues to increase in intensity among many modern gamers, mechanics like the Lyrium Dagger are just another piece of the puzzle that is needed to keep gaming moving closer to a space where the players are in full control of their experience.


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