After getting the Dragon Age: Inquisition double dose on Monday at both the Microsoft and the EA press conferences, executive producer Mark Darrah and creative director Mike Laidlaw we’re at EA’s E3 2014 booth giving presentations for the game.
The premise of the demo was breaking into an enemy stronghold at castle Redcliffe, a familiar location to those who have played Dragon Age: Origins. The demo saw the presenters playing the role of a female Qunari, a race that players have never been able to select for their main character until now. The Inquisitor rolls with a team of other members from the Inquisition, each with their own personality and backstory. One of these characters is a Tevinter mage with the goal of restoring honour to his people.
A lot of emphasis is put on team work. As the leader of the Inquisition, you are in charge of commanding some of the best and most talented folk in Thedas, this is because everyone in the Inquisition worked in highly reputable positions before joining. You have a lot of responsibility as the Inquisitor, and there’s even a war room where you can command off-screen members to carry out menial tasks like collecting items and resources.
Combat is more fluid than ever before in a Dragon Age game. Hardcore Dragon Age players are familiar with tactical view, and it makes a return in Dragon Age: Inquisition. This time around you can set the line of fire for all of your characters attacks, allowing you to harm multiple enemies with single attacks; this is especially useful for mages and archers. Special attacks can also be used once your party builds up a specific meter that fills up gradually through combat. One of these attacks was “haste” which allows you to slow down your enemy while your team speeds up.
Past critics of the Dragon Age series who were unhappy with the lack of weapon and armour customization will be happy to know that both elements are completely customizable, even down to the cosmetic appearance. You can even use materials collected by yourself and the inquisition team to craft new items.
Dragon Age is not Dragon Age without Dragon slaying, and Bioware has made Dragon slaying a fun and tactical experience. In previous games, the dragons would show up as one marker and you’d just hurl as much offense at it as you could. This time around you can target individual parts of the dragon. Also the dragon feels more authentic, as you can manoeuvre under and around the beast. This makes you feel the true size of the beast, and it makes you legit feel threatened by it.
Bioware are known for their excellent storytelling skills, and Dragon Age: Inquisition proves that they’re getting better and better at telling deep stories. The demo featured a surprise returning character from Origins, and there were scenes that you’d only ever see if you happened to have a specific team member in your party at the time.
Dragon Age: inquisition boasts 40 “major endings” meaning your decisions will matter more than they ever did in the past. The game is said to take 50 hours to beat without exploring all the side content, meaning that Inquisition’s rendition of Thedas is bursting with content, stories and discovery.
Luckily we’ll have Dragon Age: Inquisition this October, as it’s safe from the infamous 2015 delays. For now.
Dragon Age: Inquisition releases October 7th for Xbox One, Playstation 4, PC, Xbox 360 and PS3
