Dragon Age: Inquisition
Some info on the most anticipated game of 2014 (for me anyway)
Release Date
- As of April 22, EA has announced that it will be released October 7, 2014.
UPDATE: Due to the devs wanting a little more time to tweak the game and iron out some more bugs, the release date has been moved to November 18, 2014 in North America, and November 21, 2014 in Europe.
Decisions
- While Dragon Age: Origins gained its fame from the sheer amount of replayability it had, and the fact that you were able to have to many different choices, Dragon Age II was left eating dust. Many people complained about the lack of changes their previous choices made, and Bioware listened. It has now been stated that Inquisition will have even more numerous and large choices than Origins, and that the entirety of the world will literally depend on you. Choose between saving your Keep, or a neighboring city. Choose to uncover an abandoned fortress, or leave it to bandits that (may) come back to bite you in the behind later on.
- You will not be able to import previous saves, however, due to the awkward transference of consoles. BUT, Bioware has mentioned an important tool they are working on, called the Keep, that will allow you to go into incredible depth of your previous games and the decisions, so that you needn't play Origins and II over again.
- While there has been a closed beta on the Keep for a few months now, a lot of the features have been revealed in a video
here. It is likely the Keep will be released to the public somewhere between mid to late October.
Races
- There will be complete access to all races in Inquisition, from elves, dwarves, humans, and Qunari (or kossith). (
super excited!)
- It has been confirmed that Bioware will hire 4 voice actors, two male and two female, and players will be able to choose any voice for any race. There will be a female English accent, female American accent, male English accent, and male American accent.
English
- Female: Alix Wilton Regan
- Male: Harry Hadden-Paton
American
- Female: Sumalee Montano
- Male: Jon Curry
Plot
- Although Origins was about your Warden and the defeat of the Blight, II was about a struggle between the Mages and Chantry. While II didn't get very good reviews, many people missed the actual purpose of II. It was meant as a transition between the darkspawn of Origins, and into the major story of the mage/Chantry war, which is going to be a major point of Inquisition.
- Another point is the fact that you will be the leader of what was once a branch of the Chantry, now opposing it, called the Inquisition. Your job as Inquisitor will be to travel through Thedas and reestablish the presence of your order.
- Last but not least, the Veil. Your character, the Inquisitor, will have been at the battle in which the Veil was torn and killed everyone. People are looking to you because you are the only one to have survived out of hundreds. Many people believe you are responsible, while others think you are the only way to stop it. A mark on your hand allows you to close rips in the Veil, but also makes you an obvious target for enemies.
Characters
- Now that the release date is nearing, a lot of information about the characters are coming out. We now know all of the companions and advisers, as well as some NPCs. There are three advisers to the Inquisitor, who are technically NPCs but can be interacted with as if they were companions. Here are some of the more important characters that have been revealed:
Returning Characters
- Morrigan (NPC)
- Alistair (NPC)
- Cullen (Advisor)
- Leliana (Advisor)
- Varric (companion)
- Cassandra Pentaghast (companion)
- Cole (companion)
New Characters
- Vivienne (companion)
- The Iron Bull (companion)
- Solas (companion)
- Sera (companion)
- Blackwall (companion)
- Dorian (companion)
- Josephine (Advisor)
Here's a lineup of the companions and advisors
Romance
- Romance has been a debated topic among Bioware for a while now, and many believed for a time that there would not be the inclusion of romantic options in Inquisition. However, recently, lead writer David Gaider has stated that they will not be excluding romances from Inquisition - however, future series might.
- All the romance options have been confirmed, as well as their sexual orientation. There are 8 romances in total, with 2 being race-specific.
Female-Only:
- Blackwall
- Sera
- Cullen (human/elf)
- Solas (elf)
Male-Only:
- Dorian
- Cassandra
Bisexual:
- The Iron Bull
- Josephine
Factions
- There are new factions and old factions, and VERY important factions in DA:I. I will most likely be adding more information about each faction soon, so stay tuned. Here's the list as of now:
Old Factions
- Mages
- Templars
- Demons
- Seekers
- Grey Wardens
New Factions
- The Inquisition
- Red Templars
- Venatori
Creatures
- Some new creatures have been confirmed from either Bioware employees themselves and new trailers. There's also a lot more that have been shown, but we don't know anything about them or what they're called, so we're unsure if it's important. But here's some of the more prominent ones:
- Behemoth
- Nightmare
- Troll
- Fear Demon
Locations
- Bioware has repeatedly stated how massive Inquisition will be - larger than both games combined, and THE largest game they have ever created. It is also being considered an open-world game, where you will be able to wonder to your heart's content. That being said, there are some very interesting locations planned into the game, and we are all very excited to visit these places we have only ever heard about before.
-
Orlesian Empire
- - The Dales
- - - The Emerald Graves
- - - The Exalted Plains
- - - Emprise Du Lion
- - - Halamshiral
- - - - The Winter Palace
- - The Western Approach
- - - The Griffon Wing Keep
- - - The Adamant Fortress
- - Skyhold
-
Ferelden
- - Frostback Pass
- - Crestwood Hills
- - The Hinterlands
- - Therinfal Redoubt
- - Redcliffe
-
The Fade
- Another important location within the game is your Inquisition's main HQ, or Keep (not to be confused with the internet application). A lot of information has been released concerning your headquarters, such as the ability to customize the look of your keep, and the kind of statistics it will represent. You can recreate them for fortune, strength, stealth, etc... as well as changing the interior. However, the changing of the decorations within the keep will not affect what it represents and what bonuses you derive from it. (
phew!)
Gameplay
- The combat system and menus have been so enormously changed, people may not recognize Inquisition as a Bioware game (in a good way). As some people may have noticed, Inquisition is no longer a "strategy RPG", but rather an "action RPG", however this does not mean that the strategy has been taken out of the game. In fact, a new and improved strategy system has been implemented, along with the sorely missed 'top-down' view. Of course that isn't to say that you can't play in real-time, it's just that the Origin system is making somewhat of a comeback for people who missed it.
- Many people will be happy to know that you can now change your companions' armor and weapons - something that was sorely missed in II. There will also no longer be excessive class weapon and armor restrictions.
- The dialogue wheel is still here, along with voice acting and personalities. (
There is rumored to be 4 voice actors that span across all races, for individuals to choose.)
- We still have the classic weapons and combat styles, but with all-new interesting and effective abilities for each class and race.
- There is now a multiplayer. It will not be required, and will have no attached achievements.
(Thank God). There are individual characters and classes, and the teams will be made up of four. Kind of like a co-op.
Engine
- And last, but certainly not least, is the Frostbite 3 engine. With this brand new engine, there are so many things Bioware is able to do that they couldn't even hope to achieve in previous titles, such as:
Animation: The animations so far are absolutely stunning. The combat is beautiful, the transition between walking and running is fantastic, and there are even different animations for sneaking, and kicking up sand in the desert.
Locations: Now that they have the ability, there will be so much more variation between locations, it will be like each has its own personality - from different trees, grounds, architecture,
everything.
Graphics: From the looks of the demo, Inquisition is, in my opinion, far -
far - more beautiful than Skyrim ever was. The animation of the trees swaying, the shadows, the colors... Just the style itself is breathtaking. I am definitely looking forward to seeing this first hand.
Conclusion
- After everything is said and done, I think that Dragon Age: Inquisition is going to be one heck of a game, and that now given the time they need to work on it, Bioware will be able to redeem themselves from the grave they seemed to have dug with the previous two. I'm looking forward to all the difference races, the characters and companions, and even just seeing how beautiful the game is for myself. Persoanally, I'm definitely pre-ordering!
Also, if you want to check out the live demo I mentioned, here's a link:
Dragon Age: Inquisition 30 min. Gameplay
So, what do you think? Good? Bad? Are you going to play it? If so, what race are you planning to take your first look around in? What class? Are you going to be good or evil? Are you going to stick to the main quest, or run off and do whatever you want to? Go ahead - post some of your thoughts. Also, if you see any information that is missing or incorrect, please let me know and I will go in and change it.
UPDATE: A new trailer has been released showing off the beautiful locations as they are now (Still in pre-alpha!) Check it out here:
UPDATE: And yet another trailer has been released, revealing the release date and many more stunning in-game combat and cutscenes:
UPDATE: More trailers!
UPDATE: As the Dragon Age team seems to be uploading a freaking trailor every week, I would strongly advise you to simply subscribe to their YouTube channel. I will no longer be individually updating trailer links.
Dragon Age YouTube channel