Dragon Age Inquisition news continues to flow like a torrent with the game's release barely a month away. As always be aware of spoilers below. If you spot any errors or omissions, please let me know!
I mentioned last week that I hadn't seen any banter from Solas in the Let's Play videos of the Emerald Graves, but at long last we got to enjoy some with he and Varric. The same video suggests the Emerald Graves might unlock the Western Approach for us (as seen below)--that's speculation so take it with a grain of salt.
The PC UI video included a number of story-reveals. While we'd seen the war table before (in the GamesCom demo), here we experience our introduction to it in the game while at its temporary home of Haven (including meeting Cullen and Josephine for the first time--this also invalidates one of my guesses about where we would meet the former Templar). I was glad to hear Josephine's voice at last (I'm a big fan). Speaking of Jospehine, there's been a slight tweak to how her character looks (her hair bun was up, now it's down):
From conversations that were shown we learn that the mark on our hand was not initially stable--it seems Solas helps stabilize it--and that while our power was enough to stop the rift from growing, it wasn't strong enough to close it, so one of our goals is to power it up. Our advisors inform us that the Chantry has denounced both the Inquisition and the Inquisitor specifically. We also delve into the "Herald of Andraste" title--something we can reject (as I've long said), but it seems it's something the common people have foisted upon us whether we want it or not. No one seems to know who the glowing woman is that we see in the Enemy of Thedas trailer (some think it is Andraste, which plays a part in us being called her Herald). I like this element and I'll be interested to see how it evolves throughout the game depending on whether we embrace it or not.
Along with the chatter we saw more of the war table in action. It turns out the Inquisition pins in the map are advisor-only missions, whereas the tent-shaped icons are for our scouts. I'm as yet uncertain if that means we can travel to all the scouted areas, as some occur in places we've been told we will not be travelling too (like the Free Marches--you can see ones there here). We were also shown a background-specific quest and learned that various quests are tied to our origins, so they form exclusive content depending on our initial racial/class choice (the latter seems grouped into warrior/rogue and mage).
From the war table Mike Laidlaw took us to the Emerald Graves (with Sera, Iron Bull, and Cassandra), where he and Cameron Lee talked over what sounded like more amusing Sera banter (between she and Iron Bull and she and Cassandra).
The Hero of Thedas trailer came out on Tuesday (the 14th) and while it didn't have the same number of reveals as The Enemy of Thedas, it did have interesting elements. Here are the lines from it (it's worth noting that I've seen people suggest the Dorian lines below are from Solas):
Vivienne: For almost a thousand years, the world believed it was in the hands of the Maker. And now many believe you are the agent of His will. Whatever the truth is, that belief gives you power.
Solas: There is a place that waits for a force to hold it. There is a place where the Inquisition can build and grow [ie Skyhold].
Elder One: You will resist. You will always resist. It matters not.
Dorian: All of this happened because of fanatics and arguments about the next world.
Elder One: I will not suffer even an unknowing rival. You must die.
Dorian: It's time we start believing in this one [ie the world].
Solas: Every great war has its heroes, I'm just curious what kind you'll be.
Along with the dialogue, these are the images I found most interesting:
These two show the nascent Inquisition finding Skyhold. We can also see the NPC who is the focus of our first war table mission (via the PC UI video, link above) walking with us in the first image.
Some are speculating this is the Elder One, the Formless One, or even a misty Corypheus (you can see visual comparisons for the latter here). I'm leaning towards the Corypheus interpretation.
Here is Stroud fighting the weird spider creature we saw in the Enemy of Thedas trailer (his appearance in the game was mentioned only last week--presumably in anticipation of the trailer).
Here's the latest Inquisition group shot.
I've seen a couple of theories on who the Elder One is recently. One comes from Amazingly Average Gameplay who argues it's Dumat, and the other is from angelarts who believes it's Corypheus. The latter's argument hinges on Corypheus surviving his encounter with Hawke in DA2, which I think is broadly accepted, so I don't believe that fact alone speaks to his role in DAI. Anthony's theory is more of a meta-consideration, which is that he thinks all the games references to Dumat (in DAO and DA2) must be lead-ins to his involvement--which is an interesting idea, but by itself a bit too thin on its own for me to accept.
A fan has posted a very thorough image of all the revealed abilities in DAI thus far.
Speaking of fans, sharp eyes have noted that in the Emerald Graves Let's Plays there are variations within them. Specifically, the Freemen leader Maliphant apparently can have a different class (no one is sure if it's randomly generated or based on who the Inquisitor is), and he can faced in different parts of the villa he occupies (this may be more a factor of how some of the battles played out, but for the moment it's possible he's generated in different places). This kind of variation is excellent for replay value and hopefully exists throughout the game.
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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