Dragon Age Inquisition: News Update (August 13th)

GamesCom has come at last and with it a bunch of new information along with a new trailer.  As always, be forewarned of spoilers below and if you spot any errors or omissions, let me know!

 

There's a lot to like about the trailer, but it does feature one thing I'm not keen on: the voiceover, which reminds me too much of cartoon villains from the 80s, but it might grow on me.  That's just a small bump in an otherwise magnificent road.  We get to hear Cole speak for the first time; we get our first view of Skyhold (I didn't screen capture it here because I think much clearer shots will be posted soon); we get a scene of the Inquisitor fighting himself (the double created by the Elder One presumably); there's even dragons battling one another (one on our side it appears).  The Inquisitor is referred to as the Herald of Andraste for the first time and I'm curious to see how literal that is within the game (or if it's simply a title, like the Divine)--my suspicion is it relates to the early choice we'll have to embrace the idea of having been touched by something higher or not (for the life of me I can't remember where I saw that, but I believe Cameron Lee talked about it awhile back).  Back to things I thought were interesting about the trailer (this isn't a shot-for-shot breakdown, just bits that stuck out to me--Scottish Warrior has one of the former and others will follow):

 

 

Who is this figure?  Some have speculated it's Andraste, although I doubt it--it's certainly a spirit in the Fade of some kind.  Given that the Fade reflects the emotions of those who enter it, this spirit could be exactly what our Inquisitor was hoping for when s/he got blasted into the Fade (I believe this scene takes place at the start of the game).  As it stands it's all speculation.  [Lady Insanity suggests this is the Divine Justinia reaching to pull the Inquisitor out of the Fade and I like her theory.]

 

 

Who is this badass Dalish guy?  I haven't the foggiest idea, but Morrigan is standing right behind him.  I've seen speculation that he's possessed, but that doesn't tell us much about who he is.  [Ashe, link above, says this is a woman...maybe?]

 

 

Another puzzle is this woman who gets her own badass scene in the trailer.  She's featured by herself, so presumably she's an NPC of some importance.  [I've re-watched this a few times and it appears as though she's attacking Varric; Ashe believes the person next to her is wearing Tevinter garb.]

 

 

Here we are apparently communicating with a dragon.

 

 

This is Morrigan after shapeshifting from bird-form (there's an eluvian behind her); it's not 100% clear to me that she came out of it (however likely it is).  Interestingly, it looks like they've slightly changed her face from the 2013 E3 demo.

 

 

And lastly, Hawke!  A default Hawke, but the Champion nonetheless.  That is not the Hero of Ferelden next to her, btw.

 

 

This is what Hawke et al are fighting in that scene--it looks like a huge demonic spider (all those eyes and legs), but it's hard to say exactly what it is.

 

Along with the trailer, there was a short demo shown as well (which takes place during the mission Joe Juba describes in detail below).  It focuses primarily on combat and the mechanics of the game (sadly skipping any witty banter; the party consists of Solas, Cole, and Blackwall); among other things it gives us a brief look at how we can create the appearance of our Inquisitor.  Mark Darrah tells us there are almost a million words of dialogue, which is certainly an impressive number, but without a point of comparison to the other games it doesn't offer perspective. [A reader on the Reddit thread has offered some comparisons.] I was initially very excited about this map:

 

 

But given that we've been told we aren't going to the Free Marches and one of the markers is there, I'm hesitant to say each point on the map is one we can travel to (my initial thought was that those with lights were the ones currently available for the demo-Inquisitor to travel to).  For those wondering, there are 11 locations shown in Orlais, 13 in Ferelden, 2 in Nevarra, and 2 in the Free Marches.  This number of locations comes close to the figures Lady Insanity has suggested, but as I said, given that some are outside the apparent scope of the game, I'm not sure what exactly to make of it.

 

 

This appears to be an image of Dagna inserted amongst others from previous trailers.  Her identity is just surmise, but it seems like the kind of Easter egg the devs would throw in for hardcore fans.  [Update: subsequent footage has revealed this is not Dagna, but an Inquisition scout named Harding.] In the end, keep in mind these words from David Gaider about what was shown:

The spoilers we reveal may not be the ones people think they are. I've seen a number of interpretations of what we've shown which are, quite frankly, completely wrong. Some intentionally so, as the trailer is put together in such a way as to be ever so slightly misleading. "You realize that, when they see that shot, they're going to think [this certain thing]?" "Yup, absolutely." So people will absolutely speculate away, but I'd suggest being careful of taking every interpretation as if it's gospel truth.

 

Mike Laidlaw was busy on Twitter and confirmed that we see Hawke (DA2) in the trailer; he also said:

IF we were going to have one of your previous characters appear, we would absolutely give you a chance to change his or her look.

Also from GamesCom, Joe Juba (at Game Informer) offers extensive details about The Fallow Mire:

It is one of many optional areas you unlock by spending the Inquisition’s power as currency to establish a presence and explore. Even though it isn’t story-critical, the list of tasks to complete in this stinking, undead-plagued bog is surprisingly large.

The primary goal of the mission is to rescue captive soldiers from an Avvar chief, who is holed up in Hargrave Keep.

On the path to Hargrave Keep are strange, monolithic structures. Each of these monuments has an unlit torch that can only be set ablaze by a mage in your party. Your job is to find and light all four of these beacons, but since they are giant stone pillars set atop hills, locating them is easy. Surviving the process isn’t, since waves of monsters crop up once the beacons are lit. This is the sidequest that you are most likely to finish, since it overlaps with the Fallow Mire’s main quest; you would have to actively ignore the beacons on your way to the castle to miss it.

Juba then discusses the potential of recruiting the Sky Watcher as an agent; an Avvar who does not agree with his chief (he is seen being recruited at the end of the demo).  He can also help in closing one of the two rifts open in the area.  Juba then describes an optional quest he didn't get a chance to finish (finding a mage named Wildris), the claiming of landmarks (which sounds a great deal like those in DA2, as they seem primarily intended to unlock codex entries), the establishment of camps, and the gathering of survey samples of Blue Vitriol.  Juba concludes:

According to BioWare, the Fallow Mire is one of the smallest zones in the game. Even so, these tasks could easily take a couple hours to complete. Add that to the time you’ll spend doing quests and activities in other zones (big or small), and the scope of the game expands rapidly – especially for completionists. Dragon Age: Inquisition is shaping up to be a massive experience, with plenty of paths to power.

IGN also wrote about the mission and adds a few things:

The nighttime rescue operation is optional, if your choices even lead you to discovering it, but it could be key to the power of your Inquisition. Bodies -- presumably those of the area’s plague victims -- emerge from the underwater graveyard when your party dares trudge through the Fallow Mire’s bog. Around the central bog, you’ll find dilapidated cabins and a lonely, muddy road, all hiding the abandoned leftovers of the Fallow Mire’s former residents. If your party has a mage in it, you can use magic to light “Veil Fire” on obelisks peppered along the path to your soldiers. Lighting the flame pulls everyone in the area toward you, leading to larger, more challenging battles that encourage the use of Inquisition’s tactical camera. Completing these objectives increases your Inquisition’s Power points, which can be spent at your Wartable, the place where the Inquisition plans its next steps. Spending Power on Operations may see your recruits rebuilding broken structures, or it may open access to something like The Fallow Mire.

Chris Carter (Destructoid) wrote a glowing review of what he played at GamesCom, but did not offer any new information.

 

MisterShizno provides an overview of what we know so far (pre-GamesCom).  A few things he mentioned which stuck out to me: DAI has had the longest development time of any BioWare game (with two release delays); the loot in the game is colour coded based on its rarity or strength; the inquisitor cannot get married (despite the romances s/he may enjoy).

 

On the level of interesting trivia, Jonathan Perry (cinematic director of DAI) talked about why the Exalted March DLC for DA2 was ultimately cancelled (beyond the obvious reason of how poorly that game was received):

We had at one point planned a DLC for Dragon Age II called ‘Exalted March’ that we ended up not doing because we felt it was important to go ahead and switch over to new technology to really start focusing on Dragon Age: Inquisition. Some of the characters that are returning are ones we’d planned to bring back for that DLC, so we really wanted to bring them back for Inquisition.

This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)