It's time for another news update--be forewarned of spoilers for all canon material below. First I thought we'd look at something fun. Below is an alternate shot of the "last supper" image of the Inquisition that was sent to a few Youtubers--the nug under the table is a nice touch.
Lady Insanity Tweeted out that the human origin of the Inquisitor will be revealed as a Free Marcher at E3, while the Dwarf is ex-Carta (this is speculation on her part, but interesting nonetheless). For those have forgotten about the Carta, they are the crime syndicate headquartered in Orzammar, featured in both the Dwarven Commoner origin (DAO), against the Warden doing the A Paragon of Her Virtue quest, and then against Hawke periodically in DA2 (particularly in the Legacy DLC). The human coming from the Free Marches might form the connection back to Kirkwall and Hawke, although there are many other cities our character might be from.
Voice recording was still happening for the game, despite having passed the Alpha stage (Greg Ellis, voice of Cullen, was in the studio June 4th). Given how devs described what "alpha" means (see the link), the voice work is presumably part of a polish or fix scenario--not a significant add or change.
I said a few weeks back that:
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.
The point about the Old God Baby is unchanged (gamermd83 laboriously dynamites why this couldn't be the player's origin via the link), but I have to revise my opinion about both the Architect and Corypheus...to an extent. The Architect is locked in the canon more firmly than just the Origins DLC, as he's a big part of the novel The Calling which (in the DA timeline) predates Awakening. Since players can choose to kill the Architect, the character himself is unlikely to appear, but those darkspawn he freed from the calling could well play a part in the story to come (particularly as it seems we'll visit Kal'Hirol where they were encountered in the DLC). As for Corypheus, whether you've played the Legacy DLC or not has no impact on his potential role (since he cannot truly be killed and thus eliminated); could he have created the rip in the Fade? It's a possibility. Corypheus might also be behind the Venatori cultists we've seen in the previews (given his Tevinter origins and their use of the Imperium's symbol by the cult).
While players will have mounts in the new game, there will be no mounted combat as Mark Darrah explains:
the feature was deemed to be out of focus with the series’ core combat systems. After all, players already have additional party members and Dragon Age’s combat emphasizes the use of tactics to properly utilize the different companion characters. The developer chose to continue to focus on party mechanics instead of adding mounted combat into the mix and potentially altering a setup that is already proven to work. Aside from game design, Darrah also revealed that the inclusion of a mount system in general was something that the developer wanted to be careful with since it is new to the series. Adding mounted combat on top of everything else would also require the new mechanics to be built from the ground up on the game’s Frostbite 3 engine. Ultimately, the time and resources necessary to accomplish the task wouldn’t have been worth the effort for a feature that wasn’t deemed to fit well inside the game to begin with.
Therinfal Redoubt is a new location revealed and here's the blurb about it (presumably a keep to be used by the Inquisition--it appears to be a Ferelden location):
"I have heard the complaints. Some of you do not understand why we train in a castle in the wilderness when you're to seek out corruption among the masses. You question the Seekers' foresight. Doubt assails you. Why have you come to Therinfal? What can you learn here you could not on your own? Patience is what you will learn. With no city to distract or tempt you, you will practice. You will fail. You will suffer. And when we are done, you will be a rock upon which demons break. Now let us begin." This transcription of a speech by Lord Seeker Alderai to a batch of students beginning advanced lessons is dated 7:70 Storm. The Seekers used Therinfal Redoubt as a training ground until around 8:99 Blessed, when their finances were insufficient to keep the fortress in desirable condition.
We get more information about The Hinterlands, a Ferelden setting that I thought might be home to Crestwood (about which we've heard so much), but given it's proximity to Redcliffe makes me dubious. Here's the bulk of the text:
My lord Arl Teagan,
I retired to the Hinterlands for peace and quiet away from the politics, and because the wide open spaces were perfect to let my horses run. Instead, the war between the mages and the templars has turned your beautiful hills into a series of burning battlefields. The farmers who live in the Hinterlands are good folk. Many of them left Redcliffe village because they couldn't bear to be there anymore, not after the Blight and the walking dead left so many bad memories. Now we've got apostates running around setting fire to anyone who looks at them sideways, and templars looting houses and cutting down those who protest as mage sympathizers. My wife Elaina sent off our field hands to stay with her family in the east, but there are a lot of poor people here with nowhere to go. We get more refugees every day: this village attacked by mad mages or that farmstead burned to the ground by templars who can't tell a hoe from a staff. I suppose you're stretched thin, but anything you can do to lessen the burden of these poor folk would be much appreciated. I'll do as I can, and if your men need better mounts, say the word.
King Calenhad Theirin once famously declared, "The fate of Redcliffe is the fate of all Ferelden." Certainly, the castle is the first and last defense for the sole land route into Ferelden, and the country has never fallen to any force that did not first capture Redcliffe. The castle, which despite being three times captured is popularly described as "unassailable," also guards one of the largest and most prosperous towns in Ferelden. Redcliffe village is well situated near the mountain pass to Orzammar and the Orlesian border, and so serves as a center of foreign trade. For these reasons, Redcliffe is accounted an arling despite the smallness of the domain. The inhabitants of Redcliffe village are primarily fishermen or merchants who ship Dwarven goods through the pass from Orlais to Denerim. When the entire village smells of smoked fish on certain late-autumn mornings, the merchants in their finery do their utmost to pretend otherwise.
This is the first confirmed location from either of the previous games that we'll revisit in Inquisition and it will be interesting to see what it looks like compared to Dragon Age: Origins. Given that all the recent locations appear to be Ferelden I expect what we'll see at E3 will occur there.
The last piece of news before E3 is a number of character reveals are planned--Sera, the Iron Bull, and Blackwall (the formerly nameless grey warden) have been teased on Twitter (all three of whom have only unofficially been unveiled to this point)--and we may get more besides. E3 will be streamed on Twitch (Ashe offers up a preview of what we'll get from DAI and the schedule). Ability Drain explains that the character reveals are working this way because Bioware realised the didn't have enough time before release to follow their original Follower Friday plan. She also mentions that we'll see a female (human) version of the Inquisitor at E3.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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