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[Enduin]

Welp.

There goes the ballgame.

Yeah, that one is a bit of a biggy. Qunari definitely get the shaft. +50 hitpoints is probably great at the start, but I'm not sure how that will translate a few levels in, I'm surprised it's not a percentage, even 5% or something like that. Ranged Defense is a bit arbitrary, especially since in DAO Elves had a magic bonus, but that probably is still good for mages so they don't get poked full of holes by groups of archers, which definitely occurred in DAO/DA2. Magic Defense is possibly almost as good, if not more so, than the extra ability point though. Dwarves will make for the best tanks and aggro pullers since they'll have an extra buffer against hard hitting magic attacks that might tear other races apart.

Hmmm I wonder if this hints for a mage dwarf or if I am just thinking too much of it:

Not likely, at least for the Inquisitor. First the next sentence basically refutes the possibility of a mage Dwarf, but to be doubly sure they specifically mention your background involves being a member of a crime family that smuggles lyrium, so you are most likely exposed to it, reinforcing that immunity/deafness to magic.

 

[DMiz]

Interesting to read about the reasons why we'll be at the event that kicks off the start of the game, but it's a bit strange considering that it's a similar event that happened in

Spoiler

Dragon Age: Asunder, with the heads of the circles meeting up to discuss whether or not they wanted to split from the Chantry and ended up waging war with the Templars

, and we know how that turned out.

I wonder who's going to get

Spoiler

wiped out

as a result, given that we already know we're the

Spoiler

sole survivor

? Might be a way for BioWare to quickly

Spoiler

kill off any characters that you saved in the previous titles, just to help normalize and reduce some of the potential paths that could have happened depending on previous playthroughs.

 

[Enduin]

Interesting to read about the reasons why we'll be at the event that kicks off the start of the game, but it's a bit strange considering that it's a similar event that happened in

Spoiler

Dragon Age: Asunder, with the heads of the circles meeting up to discuss whether or not they wanted to split from the Chantry and ended up waging war with the Templars

, and we know how that turned out.

I wonder who's going to get

Spoiler

wiped out

as a result, given that we already know we're the

Spoiler

sole survivor

? Might be a way for BioWare to quickly

Spoiler

kill off any characters that you saved in the previous titles, just to help normalize and reduce some of the potential paths that could have happened depending on previous playthroughs.

Well BioWare have more or less said that

Spoiler

the Divine Justinia dies and pretty much all the major heads of the Chantry and Mage faction, which would also likely include all the major characters of Asunder, which sucks cause they were all pretty great, unless for some weird reason they don't show up which would require some splainin. That also means Alistair's mom is dead, which is sad. Don't know who else from previous games would be there though, not many have any reason to except maybe Anders, but I think he'd realize his presence wouldn't be appreciated and steer clear. Both Cass and Leliana are the only two I can really think of as having a serious reason to be there, as the left and right hand of the Divine, but we know neither is cause they're not dead.

 

[metalmachine]

I love the world of Dragon Age. From the books to the games, it's fantastic. I'm so excited for this game!

 

[DMiz]

... Wow. I figured they were trying to do that, but I didn't think it'd be on that scale.

I guess this really only leaves

Spoiler

Briala, the Empress, and Michel de Chevin from Asunder still kicking around? That's very disappointing, especially considering that Rhys seemed pretty interesting and it would have been awesome to see him deal with the consequences of his decision to throw the Aequitarians in the same lot with the Libertarians.

All in all, looking forward to this game and viciously grabbing up whatever information comes out at this point... It's sad that they decided to push back Keep to coincide with the game's new release date, as with the leaked images showing quite a bit of minutiae to pick from, it'd help to soften the weight by tweaking the world state to be just right.

 

[Ovek]

Spoiler

maybe Anders.

Spoiler

Pfft Anders is where he belongs... dead

 

[Sendero]

im not sure this is the right place to ask this, but here goes. are the plots of the dragon age games connected at all? ... so should i expect to be a bit lost or miss some plot threads in inquisition without having played 2 or could i jump right in?

Dragon Age 2 was released on 2011, so DA:I will likely spend hours reminding everyone what's going and whom is whom.. for both newcomers and hardcore fans. So, jut read some wikis/check some videos and you should be fine.

Also, worth remind that the Dragon Age Keep web application will allow you to create a Savegame, picking what the Warden and Hawke did in DA1/DA2, giving you some background information about it.

Extra: The DA:I timeline section gives a lot of importance to several events from DA2 (Cassandra, The Arishok deal, Mages insurrection, termination of the Circle, separation of the Templars, Red Lyrium idol, the awakening of Corypheus, etc), so more the reason to get some refresh on it.

 

[Buzzbrad]

I'm gonna play a rogue. It will be interesting to see how they handle the bow and arrow combat.

 

[Schweinehund]

Qunari Templar or Champion first, not sure.

 

[Doctoglethorpe]

Qunari Templar or Champion first, not sure.

Templar has always been the best warrior subclass imo. Mages were usually the most dangerous enemies, but Templars can practically instakill them.

 

[ChimpanzeeThat]

See BioWare, this is what you're capable of if you take your time with development.

 

[Hedge]

Male Qunari Mage first playthrough.. male Elven Mage second playthrough. I'm so ready!

 

[Doctoglethorpe]

See BioWare, this is what you're capable of if you take your time with development.

Lets not declare mission accomplished quite yet. I'm optimistic, but fool me.. you cant get fooled again.

 

[Enduin]

I know I'm going Female Qunari Mage, but don't know about the specialization. I think I might go Necromancy if it has hexes and stuff that put enemies in weird states so the rest of my party can just tear them apart. I see it being a blend of Spirit and Entropy, stuff like Walking Bomb and Horror and shit. Knight Enchanter might be cool though, but I never do well with melee mages, I always feel like I should just go with an actual melee class.

Need more info on Rift Mages though. I loved Force Mage in DA2 and am sad to see that go, I'm hoping Rift Mage has elements of that to it. I am a little concerned about the fact that magic schools appeared to be reduced again, from 6 to 5 and then Elemental has been split in two, into Fire and Ice, further reducing the other classes. So now it basically appears as though Creation is mostly gone and Arcane and Primal have been removed but their major spells have been added into Spirit and Entropy respectively. There doesn't actually seem like there are any Entropy spells in that school, it's like all Primal. Same for Spirit, it's pretty much all Arcane.

 

[Ralemont]

I'm not even sure why the DA universe felt the need to include typical fantasy races like elves and dwarves instead of just running with new stuff. The Qunari were much more interesting comparatively.

Gaider's stated intent in the intro to World of Thedas was to subvert the classic expectations for those races while still keeping them recognizable. So yeah the dwarves live underground, but they are political connivers that have a deep respect for culture, documented history, and linguistic tradition (the Shaperate is one of the two longest-running written histories). Yeah the elves have pointy ears and some live in forests, but they live in forests (and human-made ghettos) because humans took away their immortality and destroyed their civilization and culture, essentially reducing them to slaves in some countries like Tevinter, third-class citizens even in other, more progressive countries.

Really it's just humans that are pretty typical, going with the whole in-fighting and warhawks stereotypes. Although it's amusing that it's because of humans that the Blights happen.

Edit: In retrospect, Oghren probably wasn't the best choice for companion if their goal was to subvert dwarven fantasy tropes. Although his attitudes have basically ostracized him from Orzammar's society.

 

[Megatron]

I watched a 16 minute gameplay trailer as a female Quanari Mage yesterday. I am so hyped for this game. My most-wanted game of the year for sure with Sunset Overdrive and Destiny just behind it.

 

[W.S.]

I've recently become a fan of the Dragon Age games (playing them in reverse order from Dragon Age 2 to Origins) so this is definitely amongst my most anticipated action RPG's for the fall.

 

[Schweinehund]

Templar has always been the best warrior subclass imo. Mages were usually the most dangerous enemies, but Templars can practically instakill them.

Yeah they've been excellent either as a primary or secondary. I like doing the Two hand DPS route so reaver might be best, but Bioware was talking about specs being a story option and I don't want to be a evil/demonic type character. My first playthrough will be anti-mage so templar fits better into that anyhow.

 

[robo]

well according to my old BSN I have 27 characters which I have played DA:0 and awakening with and only 2 for DA:2

 

[DMiz]

Yeah they've been excellent either as a primary or secondary. I like doing the Two hand DPS route so reaver might be best, but Bioware was talking about specs being a story option and I don't want to be a evil/demonic type character. My first playthrough will be anti-mage so templar fits better into that anyhow.

Although there might be some flavour text that changes around with class specializations, I think, outside of Templar and some of the mage routes, I doubt that your class will play too much into the 'personality' that your inquisitor projects.

Not a down-play on BioWare, per se, but moreso that the company has tended to put more emphasis on people perceiving your character on the basis of what they accomplish rather than who they were. You might, for example, have to deal with a noble that's none too happy with your professional associations, but once you save his kingdom from the darkspawn crawling out of his basement, he'll judge you based on whether or not you let his favorite manservant live and escape.

It's just easier choice management.

 

[adj_noun]

well according to my old BSN I have 27 characters which I have played DA:0 and awakening with and only 2 for DA:2

Wow, that's a lot.

I think I'm around 4 for DAO and 3-4 for DA2. I recently did a mega playthrough of everything to get the perfect savefile for transfer.

Then I found out about the Keep. D'oh.

 

[robo]

Wow, that's a lot.

I think I'm around 4 for DAO and 3-4 for DA2.

thats not including my ALT US account or playing it on my sons for the trophies for him.

Also I lost a PS3 during my first ventures and had to start again so I reckon I am over 40 in total.

 

[Enduin]

well according to my old BSN I have 27 characters which I have played DA:0 and awakening with and only 2 for DA:2

Yeah I had well over a dozen for DAO, but I only completed the game with like 4 or 5, most of the others were to just experience the different Origins, and then I have 3 for DA2, one for each class.

 

[Orochinagis]

I'm not even sure why the DA universe felt the need to include typical fantasy races like elves and dwarves instead of just running with new stuff. The Qunari were much more interesting comparatively.

It's kinda funny how generic the first game felt compared to a lot of games that literally used d&d campaign settings.

I dunno but I got sad how the elves gets that threatment in DA universe, it really contrasts the elves status in other fantasy games

 

[Red Mage]

I always play as a Rogue and then a Mage. Maybe I'll do a Warrior this time.

 

[Ralemont]

Although there might be some flavour text that changes around with class specializations, I think, outside of Templar and some of the mage routes, I doubt that your class will play too much into the 'personality' that your inquisitor projects.

Not a down-play on BioWare, per se, but moreso that the company has tended to put more emphasis on people perceiving your character on the basis of what they accomplish rather than who they were. You might, for example, have to deal with a noble that's none too happy with your professional associations, but once you save his kingdom from the darkspawn crawling out of his basement, he'll judge you based on whether or not you let his favorite manservant live and escape.

It's just easier choice management.

Personally it's enough for me that it's acknowledged. It really adds to the role-playing and immersion if apostates are more suspicious of me because I'm a Templar specialization, for example.

 

[Rogue_Ledr]

It seems like they took this series back to its roots for this game.

This title will really redeem the series from the mediocre Dragon Age II.

It looks like they really took their time with this one and worked hard to restore the depth of Bioware's classic titles.

 

[Necrovex]

"The time for mercy is over."

That doesn't have the same punch as Alpha's Protocol 'Psychopath" video.

 

[blackjaw]

So stoked for this. All of my fantasy games I play some form of rogue elf, can't wait.

 

[Sulik2]

There is now way I will be able to pass up playing Qunari. Such an interesting race.

 

[Enosh]

human male warrior first one
since they removed DW from what i read around I'll just go 1hander and shield -.- 2h feels too slow from that preview they showed

 

[Katze mit Hut]

Can´t wait for this game... i´m expecting nothing less than goty-awards from it.

 

[Stuart444]

Nice stuff... now if only that keep app was up. Feel so impatient even if the game isn't out for another few months

 

[jett]

Is this game going to be friendly to someone that hasn't played the previous two games? I'm not particularly hyped for it but it seems interesting.

 

[NoSkillz187]

Knight Enchanter sounds like a Jedi. I usually don't go Mage first buy I really want to check out what the Knight Enchanter can do.

 

[DMiz]

The 'triads' people are building with their mains is super interesting, but I'm not too sure if I want to go with a rogue this time around if I go by those rules... those preview head-renders they were doing for inquisitors has really convinced me to go with Dalish male Elf, though.

I know I definitely don't want to go with two-handed weapons this time, as Iron Bull basically fits that archetype so perfectly that rolling too close to him might make me not want to put him in my party (for balance reasons)... which is blasphemous!

Is this game going to be friendly to someone that hasn't played the previous two games? I'm not particularly hyped for it but it seems interesting.

They've made several posts about how they intend to ensure that people who don't have prior experience with the series don't get lost.

For the most part, I doubt you'd be lost in the loop outside of not understanding certain references or cameo appearances. The plot, as we understand it so far, is largely self-contained although it is a consequence of events that were building up in the expanded universe and the second game; so, you should be fine.

There's always the DA:Wiki if you want to brush up on the events; I also think someone posted a link to a timeline that's hosted on the official website that does it more succinctly, if you want something quick to peruse.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Just curious, and I know I'm one of the very few looking to get this on last gen consoles. Has there been any gameplay footage of the PS3/360 versions? Pretty sure everything out now is PS4/PC stuff.

 

[Ralemont]

Just curious, and I know I'm one of the very few looking to get this on last gen consoles. Has there been any gameplay footage of the PS3/360 versions? Pretty sure everything out now is PS4/PC stuff.

Nope. I wouldn't really expect to see much if anything on that front.

 

[Enduin]

Interesting. They just confirmed that the Elven racial bonus of 25% ranged defense also includes magic, not just arrows. So that's pretty good.

Just curious, and I know I'm one of the very few looking to get this on last gen consoles. Has there been any gameplay footage of the PS3/360 versions? Pretty sure everything out now is PS4/PC stuff.

All we've seen is PC footage, and some off screen Xbox One stuff. We've seen absolutely nothing on the 360 or PS platforms.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Nope. I wouldn't really expect to see much if anything on that front.

All we've seen is PC footage, and some off screen Xbox One stuff. We've seen absolutely nothing on the 360 or PS platforms.

Wonder if Edge of Reality is doing the port. I really hope they don't let some no name do it. The mass effect games looked and ran fine on PS3, at least I think so.

 

[DMiz]

Nope. I wouldn't really expect to see much if anything on that front.

Did Battlefield 4 come out on both last gen and current gen consoles? (I am terrible at remembering EA's stable of games.)

Or any other title that uses Frostbite and effectively come out on generations, anyway. That'd probably be the comparison I would use to see how the last generation versions will turn out.

Wonder if Edge of Reality is doing the port. I really hope they don't let some no name do it. The mass effect games looked and ran fine on PS3, at least I think so.

The port might be a bit more tricky this time around since it's a different engine at play.

 

[……forgetit]

Elvish Rouge here I come.

 

[luxarific]

Spoiler

Pfft Anders is where he belongs... dead

No,

Spoiler

Anders is pretty much in DAI, if the hinting of his voice actor can be believed. I think he's an interesting character (and I kept him alive),

so I'm looking forward to this.

 

[Pegosaurus]

does this game tie in with 1 or 2 at all? I don't know too much about it, but I haven't played either of the first 2 games

 

[Lord of Castamere]

That doesn't have the same punch as Alpha's Protocol 'Psychopath" video.

I hope Obsidian current gen game gets announced soon. I need another good Obsidian RPG.

 

[luxarific]

does this game tie in with 1 or 2 at all? I don't know too much about it, but I haven't played either of the first 2 games

The player character is different, but you'll get a lot (A LOT) more out of DAI if you play the first two games. DAI comes out in November, so you still have time!

 

[Ralemont]

Did Battlefield 4 come out on both last gen and current gen consoles? (I am terrible at remembering EA's stable of games.)

Yep, BF4 was cross-gen. So I suppose comparisons of those versions might be the closest we get indeed.

 

[Enduin]

No,

Spoiler

Anders is pretty much in DAI, if the hinting of his voice actor can be believed. I think he's an interesting character (and I kept him alive),

so I'm looking forward to this.

Well,

Spoiler

he'll be there if you don't kill him at the end of DA2. They'd have to do some minor retconning to bring him back like the spirit of Justice kept him alive despite the fact that the murder knife was most definitely lodged in his spine. I'm guessing if we see him it will be a small role that only addresses what he's done in the last couple years post DA2 if you happened to spare him and let him go, or have him continue on with Hawke.

 

[RPGCrazied]

Yep, BF4 was cross-gen. So I suppose comparisons of those versions might be the closest we get indeed.

And how did that game run on PS3? Did it get a digital foundry face off?

 

[luxarific]

Well,

Spoiler

he'll be there if you don't kill him at the end of DA2. They'd have to do some minor retconning to bring him back like the spirit of Justice kept him alive despite the fact that the murder knife was most definitely lodged in his spine. I'm guessing if we see him it will be a small role that only addresses what he's done in the last couple years post DA2 if you happened to spare him and let him go, or have him continue on with Hawke.

I'd love it if his DAI appearance was somewhat substantial

Spoiler

, given that he literally set the match to the gunpowder, but I agree that it will probably be minor, even if you kept him alive. It probably wouldn't be worth giving him much of a role, given that a lot of people killed him in DA2.