• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

New Dragon Age Inquisition Info (2 new characters, 4 main voice actors, more)

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
Note: Do not post the new images floating around, they are scans.

Given this came from GameStar magazine, we will presumably get internet based previews pretty soon.

I tried to combine three posts and tidy it up a bit so I apologize if anything is confusing as I don't speak German and can't double check the original.

Info:
LI said:
Two New Companions:
-Solas is a renegade mage that is possibly a Dreamer, or in other words, a powerful mage who can enter the Fade at his or her own will. The most known Dreamers are Feynriel from Dragon Age 2, Aurelian Titus from the Dragon Age comics, and Thalsian the first dreamer and the first to claim knowledge of blood magic from the old god Dumat
-He is an apostate, as made apparent through his very non-Circle-ish attire, and he apparently has great knowledge about the Fade itself
-David Gaider says that the Iron Bull is afraid of nothing, except for his past
http://ladyinsanity.com/post/80425824031/biowareblastdaimar22
BioWare Forums - Janus198/Poison93/Chewin3 said:
Third New Companion:
-GameStar saw also an archer (likely Sera)

Main character voice acting:
-Two voice actors for each gender.
-You select your voice actor at the beginning of the game
-You can't pick a male voice when playing a female character

Gameplay notes:
-The Inquisitor can make his/her own rifts (is it the correct word for Risse) in the fade and summon demons
-No fade puzzles (transformations) like Origins
-The Protagonist can actively jump but not climb.
-Homebase system. You will be able to customize certain rooms and buy upgrades, like a garden to grow plants for alchemy. The journalist also suspects that there will be a "map room", where you can allocate troops to open new trade routes or occupy outposts. Besides Skyhold (which is your main base), you can upgrade your other bases as well.
-Animal wildlife works differently: they interact with each other (wolves hunt deer, a dragon once picked a fight with a giant) and need time to repopulate, so if you kill all the wolves in an area, you’re gonna have to be very patient
-To advance the story, the inquisition has to have gained a certain strength, to unlock new regions
-The environment is supposed to have a big influence on battle, like we’ve seen the inquisitor slightly stumble when the ground turns muddy after rain
-(Creative Director Mike) Laidlaw says most areas are roughly three times the size of the korcari wilds from DA: O
-New enemy giants. They like Darkspawn ogres and throw rocks. [Note: They're also much larger than Darkspawn Ogres.]
-A dragon is especially vulnerable on the head.
-There won't be mod-support for DA:I

Plot notes:
-There are some plot notes here, but BioWare's writers noted that there were notable errors on this front in the Gamestar article, so I left them off.
http://forum.bioware.com/topic/497547-gamestar-preview/

Art/Older Screens:

To avoid the scans, here is some art and screens of the characters from other places.

Iron Bull:

tumblr_ms59fsXHwF1rrrleuo1_1280.jpg


Dragon-Age-Inquisition-Gets-New-Screenshots-Showing-Battle-and-Qunari-374521-3.jpg

Solas:


Sera:

 

Slixshot

Banned
Iron Bull looks dope. Man, maybe I should give this series another shot. Gameplay never did it for me but I really like fantasy...
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
Posted in the other thread, but this is a bit more on the specific topic.

I'm curious to see who the last two companions will be. Right now from the survey leaks and art we have there are three likely options in Ser Cullen the Templar, Cole from DA Asunder and some Don Quixote looking guy who may or may not be Dorian a trouble making Magister from Tevinter. So that's a Warrior, Mage and another possible Mage or Rogue. Cullen or Cole could be used as DLC characters for preorder/CEs. Or we may be getting a completely unheard of character along with one of them.

Right now we have 3 warriors, 2 mages, 2 rogues. So one would assume we'd get one more Rogue and one more Mage, but of the three options 2 are most likely Mages and one is another Warrior. Speculation everywhere.
 
I just hope that the combat has been fixed. DA2's combat was atrocious.

Regardless, it seems like they've fixed some of the more glaring issues from DA2 like repetitive dungeons and small worldspaces. I'm not sure what my main character will be yet. My main in DA:O was a human male noble warrior, DA2 was a male mage. If the humans are Fereldans I think that I'll go human male rogue this time, maybe mage. Though I will definitely do a playthrough as a Qunari.
 

Ashtar

Member
I being poor, have only my dreams, I've spread them beneath BioWares feet
tread carefully BioWare for you treat on my dreams
 

Synless

Member
Bioware makes one mediocre DA and everyone doubts their ability to make a great game. There are some huge differences such as the time the game has been in development. The second game was churned out quickly, this game is not. During the production of DA2, they were also making the Awakening expansion that was quite good.
 
Bioware makes one mediocre DA and everyone doubts their ability to make a great game. There are some huge differences such as the time the game has been in development. The second game was churned out quickly, this game is not.

Well there have been some red flags from DA:I such as the game was originally only going to let you play as a human again. And while they aren't the same teams, ME3 in general has given most people doubts. A large portion of the DA fanbase are rabid RPers and thus anything they do about the disappearance of the Warden and Hawke might fall flat with fans. Especially because of the massive divergence in DA:O with
the Old God Baby
and whether or not your Warden goes
with Morrigan through the Eluvian.

I've only started playing DA:O/2 in the last year because its my wife's all-time favorite series and I have rapidly fell in love with it too even though it wasn't a type of game I would have normally played before.
 

Synless

Member
Well there have been some red flags from DA:I such as the game was originally only going to let you play as a human again. And while they aren't the same teams, ME3 in general has given most people doubts. A large portion of the DA fanbase are rabid RPers and thus anything they do about the disappearance of the Warden and Hawke might fall flat with fans. Especially because of the massive divergence in DA:O with
the Old God Baby
and whether or not your Warden goes
with Morrigan through the Eluvian.

I've only started playing DA:O/2 in the last year because its my wife's all-time favorite series and I have rapidly fell in love with it too even though it wasn't a type of game I would have normally played before.
The thing is, ME3 was a great game. The ending blew, but everything up to that point was great.
 

Currygan

at last, for christ's sake
so far, it seems like they're making this as good as DAO, but it's best to keep expectations low with Bioware and this franchise
 

Delio

Member
Man Iron Bull looks cool. Totally going to have him in my main team. I'm running mage anyways (I have in both games so far).
 
The thing is, ME3 was a great game. The ending blew, but everything up to that point was great.

This is a discussion for another thread, so I'll just link to a response to this statement that I wrote a few months ago.
http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showpost.php?p=100226408&postcount=73 Simply put, I disagree.


Anyway, is Iron Bull a Tal-vashoth or an actual Qunari? I'm guessing by the name he is the former, but that could just be the name non-Qunari have given him.
 

ANDS

King of Gaslighting
Gameplay looks great so far. I don't mind developers changing up the formulas from previous games. Yes DA2 was a huge change, but I have faith in what DA:I is trying to do.
 

JerkShep

Member
Wasn't there another mage in the first footage as a party member? Or is she "Sera"? I've not really followed most of the details released.
 

Hollow

Member
Just when I thought I was done with Bioware, they pull me back in.
Please, let this be good. With Witcher 3 delayed this looks like my only shot of RPG goodness this year.
 

Jigorath

Banned
No way I'm preordering this. I'll wait for Gaf impressions to make sure it's more like the first one than the second.
 
The thing is, ME3 was a great game. The ending blew, but everything up to that point was great.
Its arguable that the ending hullabaloo overshadowed a lot of the problems the rest of the game had. I'm wary of this game primarily because of some of the people working on it, previews rarely represent actual game quality to me nowadays. Hope the game turns out well for both bioware and the fanbase's sake though.
 
So disappointing that this is cross-gen, let the 9+ year old consoles rest their time is over....

I was kind of hoping that with the delay they would have dropped the 7th-gen versions. They haven't said a peep about them. I hope that they are just an afterthought and 95% of their effort is going into the current-gen/PC releases.
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
Wasn't there another mage in the first footage as a party member? Or is she "Sera"? I've not really followed most of the details released.

That was probably Vivienne the First Enchanter. Sera I believe is supposed to be a rogue.

So far we know of Vivienne(Mage), Solas(Mage), Varric(Rogue), Cassandra(Warrior), Iron Bull(Warrior), and then almost confirmed Grey Warden(Warrior) and Sera(Rogue). Grey Warden guy has been seen as a companion in some vids/shots out there, I'm not sure about Sera though being in any real game footage, but she's in a bunch of art and was in a leaked survey. That leave two real unknown companions, who fans have a few solid possibilities for with Cullen, Cole and a Tevinter Magister named Dorian.
 
I'm definitely interested to see how this turns out. I didn't really enjoy the past two Dragon Ages but this one seems to have a lot of potential to me. Also now that the Witcher 3 isn't coming out this year I'll need another open world rpg to give me my fix.
 

Elitro

Member
Looks great! I'm really excited for this game, the house system can turn out to be interesting althou i doubt i'll spend much time there (one of the few things BG2 didn't get right was the personal keep).

The repopulate aspect seems interesting, but i hope the game is balanced so that a resource from a particular animal doesn't become too necessary (thus making you wait alot for repopulation).

Althou i'm not really into mods, i'm sure it will blow for alot of people who enjoy them. Especially when it's touted as one of the big pc gaming elements. Perhaps a byproduct of cross platform development, or maybe i'm reading too much into it.
 
That was probably Vivienne the First Enchanter. Sera I believe is supposed to be a rogue.

So far we know of Vivienne(Mage), Solas(Mage), Varric(Rogue), Cassandra(Warrior), Iron Bull(Warrior), and then almost confirmed Grey Warden(Warrior) and Sera(Rogue). Grey Warden guy has been seen as a companion in some vids/shots out there, I'm not sure about Sera though being in any real game footage, but she's in a bunch of art and was in a leaked survey. That leave two real unknown companions, who fans have a few solid possibilities for with Cullen, Cole and a Tevinter Magister named Dorian.
Sera is supposedly a City Elf.
 

ShinMaruku

Member
Bioware makes one mediocre DA and everyone doubts their ability to make a great game. There are some huge differences such as the time the game has been in development. The second game was churned out quickly, this game is not. During the production of DA2, they were also making the Awakening expansion that was quite good.

In media it's "What have you done for me lately?"
 
As someone who only played a bit of Origins and didn't bother with the second, the barrier to entry (and I mean in terms of the lore not the gameplay mechanics) seems pretty high with this one. Obviously a certain richness is important in a game like this, but I'm not sure how clever it is to not make it a little more accessible (not talking about the combat) considering how poorly received Dragon Age 2 was, i.e. if a lot of players were put off by 2 and you're looking to attract new ones. To be honest, from what I played I didn't find any of that stuff interesting anyway, so maybe I shouldn't be looking to get back into it. The trailer was really good though. Something similar to what they did with Mass Effect 2 on PS3 with that recap comic might be helpful.

Edit: can't stress enough that I don't mean they should fuck off the players that are heavily invested. Just consider giving people like me something to work with.
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
Sera is supposedly a City Elf.

Yeah from the leaked survey she's:

Sera is young, frenetic, and a brat through and through. She revels in the athleticism of being an elf, of being different. But her culture isn't elven, or for that matter strictly human. It's the underbelly of the city in her network of rogues; what you do is more important than where you're from, and friends open more doors than titles. Robs from the rich to keep for herself."

As well as descriptions for Cole and Dorian and the Iron Bull. So they're the most likely candidates for the last two spots.

As someone who only played a bit of Origins and didn't bother with the second, the barrier to entry (and I mean in terms of the lore not the gameplay mechanics) seems pretty high with this one. Obviously a certain richness is important in a game like this, but I'm not sure how clever it is to not make it a little more accessible (not talking about the combat) considering how poorly received Dragon Age 2 was, i.e. if a lot of players were put off by 2 and you're looking to attract new ones. To be honest, from what I played I didn't find any of that stuff interesting anyway, so maybe I shouldn't be looking to get back into it. The trailer was really good though. Something similar to what they did with Mass Effect 2 on PS3 with that recap comic might be helpful.

Edit: can't stress enough that I don't mean they should fuck off the players that are heavily invested. Just consider giving people like me something to work with.

I don't exactly get what you're asking for. Understanding DAI is not contingent on knowing events from DAO or DA2. Having played those games will give you a fuller appreciation for the events and characters in DAI, but it's not necessary. Plus they're creating the Dragon Age Keep for this reason among others. Not only will it allow players to alter the background events leading up to DAI as they wish, but it will also hold a codex for those so inclined to read up on different persons, events and important information they may have missed or be ignorant about. These games dump so much info on you it's pretty hard to feel like you missed out on anything, especially since it stars an all new character, it's not even close to ME where you're missing a large chunk of Shepard's tale, or something as god awful confusing as MGS.

Plus BioWare has stated a bunch of times that if you don't import a save or create a custom import that going with the stock preset background story for DAO and DA2 will assume the most boring events from those games. So you won't have things like Morrigan having a baby with the archdemons soul, the warden will be dead, and stuff like that so players aren't going to all of a sudden stumble upon these quests and plot lines that are follow ups to major personal choices from previous games.
 
I don't exactly get what you're asking for. Nothing in DAI is likely dependent on events from DAO or DA2. Having played those games will give you a fuller appreciation for the events and characters in DAI, but it's no necessary. Plus they're creating the Dragon Age Keep for this reason among others. Not only will allow players to alter the background events leading up to DAI as they wish, but it will also hold a codex for those so inclined to read up on different person, events and important information. These games dump so much info on you it's pretty hard to feel like you missed out on anything, especially since it stars an all new character, it's not even close to ME where you're missing a large chunk of Shepard's tale, or something as god awful confusing as MGS.

Well Morrigan is in DAI so I assume your choices from the end of DA:O and Witch Hunt will play a big role, at least with her character.
 

Enduin

No bald cap? Lies!
Well Morrigan is in DAI so I assume your choices from the end of DA:O and Witch Hunt will play a big role, at least with her character.

I just edited my post to address this, but yeah they will if you made the choices in those games that would require they be explained, but if you didn't you're going to get a world where the Warden was dead, Morrigan never had a baby, you never looked for her in the Witch Hunt, etc etc. You get the stock background that is void of all the interesting and personal choices had you played those games.
 

JerkShep

Member
That was probably Vivienne the First Enchanter. Sera I believe is supposed to be a rogue.

So far we know of Vivienne(Mage), Solas(Mage), Varric(Rogue), Cassandra(Warrior), Iron Bull(Warrior), and then almost confirmed Grey Warden(Warrior) and Sera(Rogue). Grey Warden guy has been seen as a companion in some vids/shots out there, I'm not sure about Sera though being in any real game footage, but she's in a bunch of art and was in a leaked survey. That leave two real unknown companions, who fans have a few solid possibilities for with Cullen, Cole and a Tevinter Magister named Dorian.

Thanks. Glad they're going with a big party this time, even compared to Origins there seems to be a lot of companions. They're one of the things that I like the most in Dragon Age games, even in the disappointing II.
 
I don't exactly get what you're asking for. Understanding DAI is not contingent on knowing events from DAO or DA2. Having played those games will give you a fuller appreciation for the events and characters in DAI, but it's no necessary. Plus they're creating the Dragon Age Keep for this reason among others. Not only will allow players to alter the background events leading up to DAI as they wish, but it will also hold a codex for those so inclined to read up on different person, events and important information. These games dump so much info on you it's pretty hard to feel like you missed out on anything, especially since it stars an all new character, it's not even close to ME where you're missing a large chunk of Shepard's tale, or something as god awful confusing as MGS.

Sorry. I tried to be as clear as possible. I was talking more about the universe than just the events of the first two games. I didn't know about Dragon Age Keep, but that seems like a good solution.
 

2San

Member
I just edited my post to address this, but yeah they will if you made the choices in those games that would require they be explained, but if you didn't you're going to get a world where the Warden was dead, Morrigan never had a baby, you never looked for her in the Witch Hunt, etc etc. You get the stock background that is void of all the interesting and personal choices had you played those games.
Which Hunt was so stupid if you didn't do the deed. She's like what are you doing here looking for me and I'm there thinking the same thing.
 
I just edited my post to address this, but yeah they will if you made the choices in those games that would require they be explained, but if you didn't you're going to get a world where the Warden was dead, Morrigan never had a baby, you never looked for her in the Witch Hunt, etc etc. You get the stock background that is void of all the interesting and personal choices had you played those games.

I just hope that they either flesh out the consequences thoroughly or just completely ignore them. I don't want some half-assed throwaway line about the end result of my Warden giving Morrigan an
Old God Baby
and going with her
through the Eluvian
.
 
Top Bottom