Dragon Age: Inquisition Gameplay

 

There has been a lot of previews to Bioware’s upcoming title Dragon Age: Inquisition, revealing everything from recurring characters to unexplored regions of Thedas. The most in depth of which being Bioware’s two part E3 demo gameplay series, narrated by creative director Mike Laidlaw.

The series showcases the most in depth look at the world of Dragon Age and the mechanics of player combat and navigation. It is immediately clear from the gameplay footage at just how far Bioware has come since Dragon Age II and just how big of a leap the studio has taken visually. We are introduced to a beautifully and painstakingly crafted world, much bigger than anything we’ve ever seen from a Dragon age game. In order to traverse the enormous maps, Bioware has finally introduced mounts to the series, ranging from your standard bay horses to more ‘exotic’ creatures.

Combat proves to be more fluid than ever before, jumping in and out of battle seamlessly. However, Inquisition also pulls back to its tactical roots, drawing inspiration from Dragon Age: Origins’ combat system. Players now have the option of playing more strategically than the previous Dragon Age titles – ducking in and out of the tactical combat camera to inspect enemy weaknesses and issue orders to party members to exploit them, before jumping back into real time. This also encourages players to utilise their entire party, playing as each character, rather than controlling them via pre-programmed orders for every fight.   As well as skills and spells powered by stamina and mana, a new ‘focus’ system has been introduced, allowing players to unleash powerful, strategic team attacks for tougher foes.          

Inquisition features a wide new range of monsters and villains to take on - naturally dragons remain the Alpha dogs when it comes to enemies, ranging from mere hatchlings to the fearsome High Dragons. With such impressive foes, Bioware has altered how players engage with the winged beasts, including the ability to attack a dragon’s limbs and wings, bringing it down and turning the tides of battle.

You are forgiven to believe that Inquisition is based around combat with its sophisticated tactical and real time battles and random dragon encounters – yet Inquisition remains true to the series and continues to be narrative based and story driven. The members of your party are enough to alter the story during specific quests, allowing options that would be unavailable to players with different characters accompanying them.

Any fans of the series or simply gamers excited for the release of Dragon Age: Inquisition should take a look at the mini-series and allow the creative director to inform you of the games’ features, as you’ll find it difficult to come across anyone else to talk about Inquisition as passionately as Laidlaw.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDVdSPpCj7M

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fe_KAi9flTY

News for Dragon Age:Inquisition

With more and more details being revealed, a couple new trailers, and now a release date, the hype for Dragon Age: Inquisition is at an all-time high.

Living in the shadow of one of the greatest RPG series ever made is both a blessing and a curse. BioWare’s masterpiece has cemented the studio as one of the top dogs with its blend of adrenaline pumping action, cause and effect morality choices and truly epic story telling. However, as proved with Dragon Age II, not everything from Mass Effect is transferrable. It seems you can’t just give Shepard a broadsword and call him “Knight-Commander Shepard”. 

There was a lot of negativity towards Dragon Age II, mainly referring to repetitive dungeon levels and the limited character creation of the original, Dragon Age: Origins. Have no fear however, it seems as though BioWare has been listening. The studio made a big deal of traipsing through all the Dragon Age II feedback and using it as a source for the design of Inquisition, and has significant changes in store to ground the game back to its roots. “We’re missing our top-down tactical mode we had in Origins, so lets do it. But saying that, you take that feedback and you want to look between the lines a little bit, and also combine that with where you want to take the franchise, so it kind of gets a bit of a spin”, explains producer Cameron Lee

The most obvious change to Inquisition is its return to a wider range of character creation options that were available in Origins. The transition to a named, voiced human character was not a popular one. Inquisition will therefore revert to allowing players the option of multiple race choices, including Human, Elf and Dwarf. Players will also get to choose between the standard fantasy classes (Warrior, Mage, Rouge), as well as new unlockable sub classes. Warriors may choose between Champion, Templar and Reaver, Mages have the option of choosing between Rift Mage, Necromancer and Knight Enchanter, whereas Rouges pick between Assassin, Artificer or Tempest.

Being able to customise your character is important to the spirit of Inquisition believes Lee. He states that “One of the principles that we’re working towards is that Dragon Age: Inquisition is your game – we want you to be able to create the character you want to create, which is why races are there as well, why you can customise the way you look, the way your followers look, crafting is more complex than any BioWare game we’ve done before”.

This principle of players playing “their game” is not only reflected in characters, but the world around them. The most exciting change being implemented is the shift from sandbox to an open world environment. Players are now free to explore Thedas in whichever way they see fit. It’s no secret that the developers have designed Inquisition as a ‘Skyrim Killer’ and have extensively researched the environment of Bethesda’s epic adventure. Where Inquisition differs however is that players can physically alter the world around them both knowing and unknowingly. This is where BioWare is in its element, decision making. Mass Effect veterans will know that every action has a consequence in a BioWare game. Saving a life in Mass Effect may spare a life in Mass Effect 3, whereas aiding a human fleet may brand you as xenophobic for the entirety of the series.

Inquisition expands upon the typical paragon and renegade dialogue choices to achieve change to the world around you. Instead the world is fluid and constantly in flux. If a player finds his or herself gallivanting past a village under attack by bandits, they have no obligation to assist the townsfolk and doing so will not affect the main storyline, however if they allow the village to be destroyed then it may disappear from the world forever. Lee explains the mechanics of the world as “based on an emergent system that adjusts what you’ll encounter based on how your actions tip the balance in the area. You’ll see towns attacked by bandits, deer fleeing from wolves, giant’s feeding on bears, and countless other scenarios”. It’s as if BioWare are fulfilling all the promises of Peter Molyneux.

Areas announced for Inquisition include a return to Ferelden as well as the French inspired land of Orlais, of which includes The Dales, a mass elven graveyard in memory of the fallen Elves. To gain an idea of the size of the map, it’s claimed that one area of Inquisition is larger than every area of Dragon Age II combined.

With such a large transition from Dragon Age II, BioWare certainly has a tall order ahead of them. That being said, the attention to fan feedback is truly touching and Inquisition appears to keep true to what makes a great BioWare game. A vivid world to explore filled with a rich backstory, and simply unmatched storytelling.