News & Notes (May 29th)

It's been another week since my last Dragon Age: Inquisition update, so here's the latest collection of news about the game.  As always, be aware there are spoilers for the previous games and other canon material below.

 

DAI reached the Alpha stage on May 24th; it's difficult to judge what "alpha" means in the industry anymore, as the game was playable from beginning to end back in December and was cutting content a few weeks ago.  David Gaider sheds some light when explaining the cuts:

While new content is still in development, "at this point it's more about dealing with the content we have and getting it all to work," writes Gaider. "This is also the stage where most of the big cuts happen, since we can still create new content to deal with those cuts (as in "change the writing to accommodate a change in the story flow"). Once we hit Alpha, cuts are generally things that are simply excised in their entirety, without any ability to really work around them for the sake of logic or flow." Likewise, the game's writers are now moving on from creating the game's voiced dialogue and are developing "non-VO text," including codex entries, item and talent descriptions and GUI text. "Still, we have to handle all bugs that come our way, and be responsive to any cuts that are occurring."

Cameron Lee attempts to further explains what terms like Alpha means to the developers:

Pre-alpha = In production

Alpha = Feature complete (fix bugs & polish, last minute changes)

Beta = Feature & content complete (fix bugs & polish)

Final = Pray to the old gods you guys love the game

 

So Alpha indicates the main phase of cuts is complete and all VO elements are included.  Cuts can still occur, but rather than tweaks these would be complete excises of content.

 

The official website provided more information about Halamshiral and why the Inquisition is there:

"The civil war is now at an impasse," explains level designer Chris Corfe. "The faction leaders are at a peace talk at the Winter Palace in Halamshiral, a magnificent Orlesian structure built on ancient elven grounds. The Inquisition is here to find and stop an assassin. Combat is not the main focus here. Intrigue and social interactions rule the day, so the gameplay has unique elements."

"We are about to attend a costume party," adds senior environment artist Ryan Love. "Get your mask on and your dancing shoes ready, but don't let your guard down. There's more to this party than meets the eye."

This news fit my expectations for the location and I'm excited to see how diplomacy and intrigue work in the game.  It's also worth noting that most of the images of Morrigan we've seen are in this setting, so it's without question that she will be here.

 

 

The website also discussed the Fade:

The relationship of dreamers to the Fade is complex. Even when entering the Fade through the use of lyrium, mortals are not able to control or affect it. The spirits who dwell there, however, can, and as the Chantry teaches us, the great flaw of the spirits is that they have neither imagination nor ambition. They create what they see through their sleeping visitors, building elaborate copies of our cities, people, and events, which, like the reflections in a mirror, ultimately lack context or life of their own. Even the most powerful demons merely plagiarize the worst thoughts and fears of mortals, and build their realms with no other ambition than to taste life.

 

The Fade has looked speculator throughout, although we know very little about how much we'll interact with it in the story.  The Inquisitor comes out of the Fade at the beginning of the game and with all the visuals we'll assuredly be entering it again--but how much is unknown.

 

gamermd83 offered an interesting theory about the thaig we've seen in the previews and made a conclusion I think is absolutely spot on: it's Kal'Hirol (beneath the Arl of Amaranthine in Ferelden), the clues being the ocean shots with a Dwarven statue, along with the player's connection (if Dwarven) to the Cadash family.  The thaig appeared in the Dragon Age: Origins DLC Awakening, with connections not just to Cadash, but ancient Tevinter, golems, and the Elves as well.  This is a location that could involve Shale and/or the Architect, as well as meaning we won't just see the Frostback side of Ferelden.

 

 

For those interested, here's the background of Kal'Hirol:

[Kal'Hirol]'s workshops are where Paragon Hirol conceived his famous improvements to golem resilience and power, and where Hirol's favorite student developed a method for storing refined lyrium that is still used centuries after its conception. These breakthroughs brought Kal'Hirol great prosperity; its passageways are said to have glittered with gold and silver. This didn't last long however, as it fell to the darkspawn during or shortly after the First Blight. As the dwarves of Kal'Hirol were evacuating the thaig, five hundred casteless were left behind.

In the aftermath of Awakening Kal'Hirol is cleared of darkspawn, and eventually the dwarves of Orzammar reclaim it via House Helmi.

 

Kimberly Wallace (of Game Informer) has written her thoughts about Cassandra and Varric's role in the game and they're both engaging and worth checking out.

 

A quick add from the original post: here is an interesting comparison of the Grey Wardens to the Night's Watch from Game of Thrones.

 

I'm not sure if we'll finally get another Follower's Friday tomorrow (a background reveal of one of the Inquisitor's companions), but if so I'll update this with that information.

 

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

Dragon Age: Inquisition News Update (May 21st)

It has been a little over a week since I posted What We Know So Far and additional information has come out (along with a few things I want to look at that I didn't touch on previously).  Be wary of spoilers of all the DA material that's come before.

 

David Stonecipher (Examiner) confirms that DLC for the game won't go into development until after the game is fully finished (which, as of May 17th, it was not, although additional gameplay material will be available at E3).  We'd already been told there would be no DLC characters, and I have to wonder how much the controversy over on-disc DLC (from Dragon Age 2 and Mass Effect 3) relates to this decision (which I think is a good one).

 

Game Informer took a quick look at the beginnings of the Inquisitor and what his or her advisers can do for the Inquisition, but doesn't add anything new.  Ability Drain offers her own general update (summarizing the former along with various bites from the official Dragon Age website and the product offers for the game)--the most interesting tidbit is that Gwendoline Christie (Brienne from Game of Thrones) is voicing someone within the game.

 

Parts of player specialisation have been revealed (you can see them explained by the Ability Drain link above), but I don't intend to go into them until it's more fully revealed--officially there's still a long way to go.

 

A few locations have officially identified and described (Mister Shizno posted a video about this yesterday, coincidentally):

 

-The Fortress of Adamant: this location appeared in the novel Dragon Age: Asunder, a former Grey Warden keep situated along the Abyssal Rift in the Western Approach of Orlais; in the book Pharamond found a cure for tranquility there; this is also the novel which features Cole who is believed to be one of the companions of the Inquisitor; the location was accidentally revealed back in August via the World Unveiled video, but we know nothing about how the Inquisition will interact with the location.  Here's the gist of the article:

It had been built to stand as a bastion against the darkspawn spilling out from the Abyssal Rift—a symbol of how we [Wardens] had done the impossible and pushed those creatures back into the shadows where they belonged. The entire Western Approach had become a wasteland, and thus the expense of maintaining the fortress became harder and harder to justify. Many said that, even if darkspawn did still emerge from the chasm, who would they threaten other than the Grey Wardens themselves? So in the dawn of the Blessed Age, we sealed the fortress's mighty gates...retreating to Montsimmard. The dwarves did well by us, and I suspect Adamant will remain for ages to come... but should the Order ever return, they will find it difficult to resurrect this place.

 

 

 

-The Emerald Graves and Emprise du Lion: both of these locations are within the Dales, a south-eastern region of Orlais that borders Fereldan; the Emerald Graves are a forest born of the second Exalted March (which you can read about here) and a confirmed location for the giants we've seen in both the gameplay trailer and the Discover the Dragon Age video--what other conflicts arise there, other than likely difficulties with the Dalish, remains unknown; the Emprise du Lion is a highland setting that's been taken over by the Red Templars who have enslaved the locals--there's apparently a connection to the novel The Masked Empire here, all of which connects it strongly (thematically) to the Crestwood location.  Here's the gist of the article:

"The Emerald Graves are a mix of the old elven burial ground and a noble, Orlesian playground," [Andrew] Farrell said. "You've got the lower section of the forest, which is a bit more civilized with road signs and abandoned Orlesian estates, and then as you get higher up, you come to the ancient elven areas. The elves may have moved on, but the forest is still teeming with wildlife. Explore, and you're bound to encounter black wolves, great bears, snoufleurs, halla, and even nugs if you venture underground. However, Farrell warns that they're not alone. "While adventuring through the upper regions of the Emerald Graves, you'll come across some rather large caves. Don't be surprised to find some 'gigantic' enemies using them as their homes.""You may not be a high enough level to take down everything you'll encounter at first, but you can sneak around and continue your exploration," Farrell explained. "When you are strong enough, however, this is exactly the kind of place you'll want to come back and do battle in search of better loot. You never know, there could even be a dragon nearby."

"Emprise du Lion was an interesting change of pace from the Emerald Graves," Farrell said. "The forest is very open, and the player can cover every inch at their leisure. There is still a lot of exploration to be had in Emprise du Lion, but there is a core story element that drives you there." The red templars are up to something, and the Inquisition comes in to check it out," Farrell finally offered. "When you arrive, there's an area for you to explore, but if you want to get to the heart of what's happening, you're going to have to push through an army."

 

 

 

-Exalted Plains

Another area of the Dales (it's featured extensively in the Discover the Dragon Age video, but nowhere else); we know from the link above that it's an area of civil war featuring the undead and Dalish Elves; in the article this is the gist of what we're told: 

The first thing we [did] was try to portray the civil war and the impact it’s having on the environment and the people of that region,” says senior environment artist Andrew Farrell. “In these spaces, we try to provide opportunities for the Inquisition to come in and make its mark on the area. Then the people there rally around that.” The Inquisition arrives at the Exalted Plains during a ceasefire between two armies at war. The bodies of fallen soldiers mysteriously rose from the dead and have driven the armies back to their respective castles in retreat. As this is the Dales, one might wonder: what’s become of the Dalish elves? “They’ve retreated into an area with more security away from all the fighting,” explains Farrell. “Of course, they’ve got a few problems of their own.” The Crow Fens is one section of the Exalted Plains. In contrast to the sprawling hills elsewhere in the area, the Fens is claustrophobic, creating tension as you wonder what lies in wait for you around the next corner. According to Farrell, the Fens was the perfect playground for his imagination to run wild. 

 

Speaking of the various book tie-ins noted above (I have yet to hear a specific reference to the comics, but that might be forthcoming), I quite like that the franchise is trying to include all its canon material.  A lot of franchises (Star Wars, for example) tend to ignore this material when making their flagship medium (movies for SW), and I prefer the involvement of these elements as it lends weight to that material.

 

In my previous post I mentioned the revealed surnames of the Inquisitor without delving into any meaning we might derive from them.  One of those names, Cadash (the Dwarven default), is the surname of Shale, a potential companion from The Stone Prisoner DLC in Origins (she also appears in the novel Asunder).  This doesn't guarantee we'll see Shale in the game, but the connection would certainly have more impact if we did.

 

With E3 upcoming (June 10th), when we might expect a new promo for the game, I thought it was worthwhile taking a look back at the four videos that have been released thus far to see what we can learn from them.  All of these videos have been examined elsewhere and I'm not interested in picking them apart shot-by-shot, instead I want to focus on just a few things within them.  First, the list: E3 Teaser Trailer (June 10th), A World Unveiled (August 20th), Discover the Dragon Age (March 6th), and the Gameplay Trailer (April 22nd).  So let's get to it (anything above is not included below):

 

-Crestwood

The setting featured most extensively in the demo at PAX Prime, it's best known for the scene of Varric sadly looking over corpses (which we know from via the demo is due to the Inquisitor allowing the village to be destroyed by Red Templars); the location is shown definitively in both E3 and AWU, but has not appeared since (which makes sense--with all the demo videos available scenes from that location would be redundant); the point being made in its use is about the impact of player choice, along with teasing out the Red Templars (who have been the most prominent enemy we've seen)

 

 

 -"Owl Keep"

Just my term for the keep that appears prominently in both E3 and AWU; it's most recognisable as the place where Cassandra dramatically stabs a map of Orlais; from the iconography (the Seeker symbol) it's a base of operations (perhaps becoming the base of operations for the Inquisition)--it nicely anticipates the many scenes (in videos and concept art) of the Inquisitor and the map

 

 

-Attack on a Grey Warden keep

This battle scene has been shown in three of the four trailers (DTDA is the exception) and it's the longest sequence we have footage of; why the inquisition is battling gray wardens is a mystery and I believe it's meant to illustrate that the world has been turned on its head and we don't know who to trust (it may also be another element of player choice--the attack might be optional)

 

 

-Orlaisian ball

Featured in both AWU and DTDA, we know this is in Halamshiral (north of the Dales) and that Morrigan is there; it's a nice contrast from the various outdoor and battle environments and hints at the diplomatic/intrigue side of the game (which is difficult to illustrate in short trailers); we also know of Morrigan's connection to Empress Celene, so there's a good chance if we meet her it will be here

 

 

-Dwarven area

This environment appears in every trailer other than AWU, but beyond illustrating how good the game looks in the new engine it's not clear what we can take away from it; fans have been unable to decide where the location is, but Kal-Sharok makes little sense to me as it's not near a substantial body of water--unlike Orzammar

 

 

 

-Dwarven thaig

Shown only once (DTDA), but is of interest because I've seen and heard nothing about meaningful interactions with Dwarves in the game (despite the above)--no one is sure where this is (an existing thaig? a new one?)--so it adds a layer of mystery and (hopefully) complexity--Dwarven politics are a lot of fun and I'd love for the Inquisitor to get neck deep in it

 

 

A couple of points of general interest: the majority of revealed locations are in the Dales (in comparison we've had nothing from the vast Nahashin Marshes), and the enemy we know the most about are the Red Templars.  In the case of the latter, I suspect the are among the first opponents the Inquisition has to deal with.  If that's right, the same logic would mean the various Dalish locations are also visited early on (although given the many comments from devs about returning to areas, they are not places that would become exhausted quickly).

 

If you notice any errors or glaring omissions, please let me know (and, where possible, cite sources).

 

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

Dragon Age: Inquisition (What We Know So Far--Updated and Expanded)

 

At the end of April I posted a blog on what we knew about Dragon Age: Inquisition and since then enough additional information has come out (or to my attention) that I wanted to update and augment that content.  Spoilers ahead for the first two games (and books/comics), so be forewarned.

 

The premise has been out for quite some time (it's nicely recapped in the most recent trailer), but here's the gist:

A cataclysmic event plunges the land of Thedas into turmoil. Dragons darken the sky, casting a shadow over lands on the brink of chaos. Mages break into all-out war against the oppressive templars. Nations rise against one another. It falls to you and your allies to restore order as you lead the Inquisition and hunt down the agents of chaos.

Cameron Lee expanded on this considerably in an interview with AusGamers:

at the beginning of the game when the head of the Chantry and the head of the Mage's faction they're going into the Temple of Sacred Ashes to this peace talk, and they're all killed. There's this massive explosion and this breach in the sky opening up, and the Chantry's in absolute chaos. It's headless. You've got infighting between different factions, you've got people saying screw it let's all retreat back to Val Royeaux and elect a new leader et cetera. So the formation of the inquisition is kind of always like a plan B that the head of the Chantry was considering, and then Cassandra starts to bring this all up after the events at the temple. And she's doing that because she knows that the Chantry was considering it and that the Chantry is just going to run off and talk about stuff rather than taking any action. So she sets things in motion via this loophole, picking up the Inquisition, but then as a player you need to go through a process of "well do people believe me? Do they know I didn't cause the explosion? Do they trust me enough? How do I start leading? How do I build it up slowly to the point where it's the Inquisition I want it to be as a player?" And that starts to develop through the plot and the side content.

As Inquisitor, you have a great deal of political power:

you have rights and powers that other citizens don't have, and you can use those to great effect. At the same time you also have to make decisions, moral decisions, about what's going to happen.  Do you want to save a village from burning, or do you want that village to burn down?

That power is important, because not everything in the game involves violent confrontation.  As Lee explains (link above):

There are a couple of different facets from that [politics]. There is one plot in particular which is very much a political plot, it's very much backroom deals and court intrigue and how you influence people based on your reputation. Sort of what can you pull off and at what cost to other people? There's a whole plot dedicated to that kind of experience, and it's bloody as well. Like Game of Thrones, I guess, is definitely a bloody type of politics--it's similar with us. Dragon Age has always had the blood and gore and the dark concept of politics and this plot is a great representation of that.

You mention that the Inquisition is a powerful political faction and that is absolutely true. All throughout the game you will slowly build up the Inquisition to be in a position of power, people recognise you for who you are and what authority you wield. The Inquisition has three main pillars right, they have a military force lead by one particular character, you've got a secret facet with spies and assassins lead by Leliana from DAO and then you've got a political pillar, which is all about the politics, the backroom deals and the connections you have... not just through nobles but also through merchant houses and stuff like that. And the area you decide to invest in both in terms of how you decide to grow and customise your Inquisition but also the types of content you decide to engage in is all up to the player. So if someone wants to play that kind of Game of Thrones-y political aspect they can definitely do it and that flavours the whole game and it impacts the whole game. They're still going to have to go around and kill some things themselves, but having that powerful political organisation will be reflected as well.

Your Inquisitor is male or female of any race (the only restrictions seem to be that the Elves must be Dalish and the Qunari must be Tal-Vashoth), who has the unique ability to close the tear in the veil (caused by an unknown antagonist).  Four different voice actors were used for the lead (two male, two female, with British/American accents as the possibilities), so we can pick the one we like best (doing more voices than that is apparently impossible due to the amount of disc space that would be required).  The game will take place in Orlais, Fereldan, and the Dales (the latter is a region between the other two countries; Xbox magazine also says Nevarra, but given the errors they've made about the game in the past I'd take that with a grain of salt), three years after the events of Dragon Age 2.

 

 

Thematically the game will continue to deal with race-prejudice (Elves specifically), the persecution of mages, while also exploring the problems of war, betrayal, and corruption.

 

Players cannot directly import their saves from the previous games, but Bioware has set up a system (Dragon Age Keep) whereby those choices can be added into the game.  As Lee explains (link above, but also here):

What we wanted to do with the Keep is have that ability for people to be able to recreate their save -- particularly for Gen 4 platforms -- and that's quite a detailed list. There's hundreds and hundreds of choices in there, and most of it's narrated and there's pictures and text and stuff like that. So they should be able to recreate to the same detail their save file through that Dragon Age Keep online process, and then pull that save game down onto any platform. The thing I love about that is personally, say, I played on PC but I don't want to upgrade my PC so I want to play on Xbox One or PS4, I can still bring my experience across. That was the biggest goal that we wanted to accomplish, and I think the Keep definitely does that. Direct Save Imports... I just don't know. I hope we get there, but right now I'm not too sure. There's so much work still to be done.

For those who never played the previous titles or want a completely new start, the default background is: a Dalish Elf was the Hero of Fereldan (Origins) and died ending the Blight (Alistair becomes king), while Hawke is a mage (Dragon Age 2) and sided with them against the templars.

 

The Inquisitor (whose last names, dependent on race, have been revealed: Trevelyan (human), Lavellan (Elven), Cadash (Dwarven), and Adaar (Qunari)).  He or she will have nine companions in addition to NPC's (judging from the final scene in the trailer, three NPC's are part of the main crew).

 

 

Some of these characters have been revealed, while others remain a mystery.  The following companions and/or NPC's are confirmed (left to right): Cullen (DAO-2), Vivienne, Varric (DA2), unconfirmed, Solas, Cassandra (DA2), the Inquisitor, Iron Bull, unconfirmed, Leliana (DAO-2), Sera, unconfirmed, and unconfirmed.  This leaves four unidentified characters.  Two we can say something about: one appears to be Cole (from the novel Asunder; the first unconfirmed on the left), and another a grey warden (far right).  The other two: the male may be Dorian Pavus (also this link), but there are virtually no clues who the woman is ("scribe" is the most common term I've seen, although Lady Insanity refers to her as an "archer").  It's worth noting these will be the only companions--no DLC characters (ala Sebastian from DA2) will be added.

 

Varric, Cassandra, Vivienne, Sera, Iron Bull, and Solas are confirmed as actual companions.  We also know that Cullen and Lelianna are NPCs.  The fact that the latter two have no weapons in the picture above has given rise to the theory that those without them are all NPC's (thus, intimating that the "scribe" is the other).  Whatever the case, as in both previous games the active party will consist of the Inquisitor and three companions.  For those who've noticed the similarity of the group shot above to the Last Supper, I wrote a blog exploring the idea recently.

 

For insight on characters (confirmed or unconfirmed) that don't have official descriptions of yet (via the DAI website), here's what the 2012 survey leak said about them (keep in mind this must remain speculative, but I have more to say about the leak and its information below):

Cole: A long time ago, a young man died a cruel death is dark place. And now, somehow, there is Cole. Was he a spirit or a demon? Is he human now? Cole is not sure it matters any more. Hounded by memories that aren't his own, invisible in a world he can stalk like a shadow, the rogue must decide between joining the living or preying upon them

Dorian Pavus: a Tevinter magister. The title conjures fear of arcane master who once enslaved nations. Dorian may wield the power of the magisters, but he delights in not being what you would expect. Brazen and clever, this outcast is on a crusade to rid his homeland of its corruption

Iron Bull: a long way from home, and he prefers it that way. A slap in the face of typically humorless Qunari (Kossith), he loves drinking, killing and looting- but not necessarily in that order. The head of a vicious mercenary company, he's known for excellent pay and brutal punishment. It's been a decade-long party, but the Bull may find that old loyalties die hard.

Sera: 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 it more important than where you're from, and friends open more doors than titles. Robs from the rich to keep for herself

 

Other characters from previous games have also been confirmed in unknown capacities: Morrigan (from DAO; she was featured in the E3 teaser from last summer and apparently she'll be more "mature"), Flemeth (DAO-2), Alistair (DAO-2), Dagna (DAO), Queen Anora (DAO), and I think Sandal (DAO-2), but I can't find a link for that so take it with a grain of salt (we do know he's in Orlais and serving the Empress).  The Alistair inclusion presumably will not occur for those who sacrificed him in Origins, but clearly he's a default otherwise.  There's also an unidentified character from the novel The Masked Empire who can be encountered in a side mission.

 

 

The developers have hinted that Hawke and the Hero of Fereldan (if alive) will be involved or referenced in some capacity, but in my opinion they are unlikely to appear given the huge amount of variables those characters can have via player choice in the other games (even though cameos have been reported, later changed to a "solid possibility", I don't believe that guarantees mean they will appear in person).  Bioware has emphasised that characters who appear from the previous games will be more than simple drop-ins, as they were in Dragon Age 2.

 

Various dangling plots, like the Architect (DAO: Awakening), Morrigan's Old God Baby (Origins), or Corypheus (DA2: Legacy), will not significantly impact the Inquisition storyline given that it can be played without those elements.  However, those plot lines will be addressed in some way if they were involved in your story in the previous versions.  As Cameron Lee explained last September (in reference to the Old God Baby):

If players did decide to have a kid with Morrigan, and not all of them did, so that's the thing--I can't talk too much about it, unfortunately--but, you know, certainly if you were to have a kid, you know, that would make you a little bit more human, I would imagine, so you might see something about that.

That's not particularly clear (the Warden is more human? [edit: as some readers have pointed out, this must mean Morrigan is more human]), but it's as much as we've heard regarding dangling plots.

 

 

As for the gameplay itself, the story can be played in 40-50 hours for those who eschew side quests and speed through the main story line, but there's 100 hours of play available.  The devs don't expect you to be able to do everything in one playthrough (indeed, given that some choices close off possibilities, this seems impossible).  Also of interest, there's content intended to be played after the main plot is wrapped up:

the preview states that most of the content in Emprise Du Lion is so difficult that the player won’t even be able to experience them until the post-game, implying that there is going to be more content for the player to explore even after the campaign has ended.

There are a few unique endings, along with about forty major variances based on your choices (there are hundreds of minor differences beyond that).  Romances are back, but so far only Cullen and Cassandra are confirmed as potential partners.  Players will be able to heavily impact their environment as they extend the influence of the inquisition.  In terms of your enemies, they will not level with you (ala Elder Scrolls), so you have to be cautious when you fight.  The tactical camera from Origins is back (as an option--you aren't locked in), so it will be much easier to manage battles.  In an effort to make combat more interesting/challenging, players will no longer auto heal after every encounter.  You can watch an extended demo from the pre-Alpha stage (from September) to get a sense of it (the demo also illustrates the kinds of choices you will face in the game).

 

I'm not sure how much more will be revealed over the next five months--we'll learn the names and identities of the other companions, at least.  The game's official site already has class-specific and world-specific tidbits to comb through and I expect much more along those lines will be added before October 7th.

 

A final note: it's fascinating to see how little Dragon Age: Inquisition has deviated from the storyline and characters fans saw in the survey leak of 2012 (with yet more confirmation of Cole and Dorian Pavus within).  Despite warnings not to take the leak as gospel (including from knowledgeable fans), only a few things seem to have changed: Cullen is an NPC rather than a companion; the number of companions dropped from 10 to 9 (Cullen being the casualty, presumably); a party of five reduced back to four; and the idea of a strictly human protagonist was dropped (and with it the idea of players choosing specific backgrounds).  This isn't necessarily bad or a criticism, but just an indication of how strongly shaped the ideas behind DAI were prior to the team specifically collecting feedback about it.

 

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)

Why "the Inquisition"?

 

 

Ever since the title of the latest Dragon Age game was announced I wondered why the creative team choose the name "Inquisition" for it.  To me, and I think the public at large, it's a term that only has negative connotations (even if all that people remember is a vague notion of witch-hunting).

 

 

Or possibly just this:

 

 

 So why choose it?  It's a fun question to pursue in the long months before release, even if the answer is a very minor facet of the game itself.

What was the Inquisition, historically?  Since we don't know what the creative team knows, I'll stick with the broadest implications as being relevant (being obscure results in no payoff for using it).  The Inquisition was:

a group of institutions within the judicial system of the Roman Catholic Church whose aim [was] to combat heresy. It started in 12th-century France to combat the spread of religious sectarianism.

Just to be clear, sectarianism is when people from one religious group develop different beliefs within the same paradigm.  At any rate, it's clear our Inquisitor isn't interested in heresy or imposing a particular version of the Andrastian faith on others, so that context can be tossed aside.  The Seekers are a branch of the Chantry (the church, as it were), so perhaps the Inquisition has the blessing of the Divine (despite the Inquisition being completely independent).  What's of interest is that the historical Inquisition was a judicial, investigative branch with a mandate for change, which matches what Dragon Age: Inquisition is intending:

As the Inquisitor you have rights and powers that other citizens don't have, and you can use those to great effect. At the same time you also have to make decisions, moral decisions, about what's going to happen.  Do you want to save a village from burning, or do you want that village to burn down?

Beyond the Inquisition having cache, I think the broader intention is to indicate that the player can choose to be ruthless--that's what's implied by Morrigan's speech in the E3 trailer:

 

 

Darkness closes in. Will you stand against it? Or lead this world to its bitter end?

The key phrase here is "lead", so the Inquisitor can choose the latter scenario.  I think the storyline shown in the demo from the fall illustrates how easily a player can make morally questionable decisions.

In game terms, I was uncertain if the Inquisition itself pre-dates the Inquisitor until I found this article by AusGamers, asking much the same question.  Cameron Lee says a lot (including confirming that Leliana is in charge of spies and assassins), but I'll focus on the element most relevant to what I'm exploring here:

the formation of the inquisition is kind of always like a plan B that the head of the Chantry was considering, and then Cassandra starts to bring this all up after the events at the temple [the breach of the Fade and deaths of the heads of the factions]. And she's doing that because she knows that the Chantry was considering it and that the Chantry is just going to run off and talk about stuff rather than taking any action. So she sets things in motion via this loophole, picking up the Inquisition, but then as a player you need to go through a process of "well do people believe me? Do they know I didn't cause the explosion? Do they trust me enough? How do I start leading? How do I build it up slowly to the point where it's the Inquisition I want it to be as a player?"

Lee also talked about the question briefly back in September where he emphasized "inquisition" representing a search for truth.  In the history of the Dragon Age universe, the first Inquisition was formed with:

[the] goal of protecting the people from the tyranny of magic in whatever form it might take; blood mages, abominations, cultists or heretics. A loose association of Andrastian hard-liners, the group combed the land in search of these threats and some say theirs was a reign of terror. Others say they were cast in a negative light by history because their investigations and even application of justice, protecting both mages and common people impartially, crossed too many powerful groups. In these accounts it is suggested that the group was already known as the Seekers of Truth and that the "Inquisition" moniker was perhaps pejorative

The developers have intentionally created an ambiguity about what the Inquisition was that echoes actual history (although revisionists in the real world have a harder time spinning it in a positive light, given that the "crimes" investigated weren't blood magic, but people simply having different beliefs).  It's a brilliant creative choice and I can't wait to dive in and experience my own Inquisition.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)