Dragon Age: Inquisition Inquire-All - THE BREACH HAS OPENED

just tuning into this thread from the original post...

So they were working on this for 18 months by September 12, which means major effort by March 2011. I was excited that there wre pages and pages of activity and that almost a year later this had to be close... but a year away still, really? This is reaching DA:O development cycle... which is hopefully a good thing. I skipped DA2 entirely but I'm eager to see what they do with the feedback they've gotten since.

Joystiq reports that a tactical, overhead combat mode was shown at PAX. I completely skipped DA2 because of the combat, but this would get me right back in.

Also skipped the expansion to DAO, because

Spoiler:

my character sacrificed himself, and I didn't like the new character option described.

I hope this gets the series back where I'd hoped it was going - I absolutely adored DAO.

Oh, and apparently, the quunari are going to be playable now! Both male and female! Really curious, it's about time we saw a female qunari.

Eleima wrote:

Oh, and apparently, the quunari are going to be playable now! Both male and female! Really curious, it's about time we saw a female qunari.

...just a guess, but think male quunari + less muscle mass + probably shorter horns + breasts + maybe a little less height = female quunari.

While I think it's cool that the Quunari are going to be playable (as I've always been fascinated by them)... I'm wondering how they'll justify that in-game. Didn't Sten and that dude from 2 specifically note that the women of their species did not leave their home islands? Kind of wondering if there may not be a "destroyed homeland again" thing going for them with this crazy Futurama Beast with a Billion Backs rift opening... thus leading to one of the conflicts specifically being "Make peace between the Quunari and everyone else (potentially alienating Cassandra in the process) or end their threat once and for all." If you're an outcast Quunari, that could make that section a bit of revenge against those who exiled you... which would be dark, but I suppose par for the course with DA.

Demosthenes wrote:
Eleima wrote:

Oh, and apparently, the quunari are going to be playable now! Both male and female! Really curious, it's about time we saw a female qunari.

...just a guess, but think male quunari + less muscle mass + probably shorter horns + breasts + maybe a little less height = female quunari.

While I think it's cool that the Quunari are going to be playable (as I've always been fascinated by them)... I'm wondering how they'll justify that in-game. Didn't Sten and that dude from 2 specifically note that the women of their species did not leave their home islands? Kind of wondering if there may not be a "destroyed homeland again" thing going for them with this crazy Futurama Beast with a Billion Backs rift opening... thus leading to one of the conflicts specifically being "Make peace between the Quunari and everyone else (potentially alienating Cassandra in the process) or end their threat once and for all." If you're an outcast Quunari, that could make that section a bit of revenge against those who exiled you... which would be dark, but I suppose par for the course with DA. :D

They've covered outcast Qunari in the lore. They aren't even called Qunari but Vasoth or Tal-Vasoth. Could easily justify the player character being a Tal-Vasoth.

Also, here's the concept art for DA2 female Qunari.

IMAGE(http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/dragonage/images/e/e3/Qunari_DA2.png)

Vector wrote:
Demosthenes wrote:
Eleima wrote:

Oh, and apparently, the quunari are going to be playable now! Both male and female! Really curious, it's about time we saw a female qunari.

...just a guess, but think male quunari + less muscle mass + probably shorter horns + breasts + maybe a little less height = female quunari.

While I think it's cool that the Quunari are going to be playable (as I've always been fascinated by them)... I'm wondering how they'll justify that in-game. Didn't Sten and that dude from 2 specifically note that the women of their species did not leave their home islands? Kind of wondering if there may not be a "destroyed homeland again" thing going for them with this crazy Futurama Beast with a Billion Backs rift opening... thus leading to one of the conflicts specifically being "Make peace between the Quunari and everyone else (potentially alienating Cassandra in the process) or end their threat once and for all." If you're an outcast Quunari, that could make that section a bit of revenge against those who exiled you... which would be dark, but I suppose par for the course with DA. :D

They've covered outcast Qunari in the lore. They aren't even called Qunari but Vasoth or Tal-Vasoth. Could easily justify the player character being a Tal-Vasoth.

Also, here's the concept art for DA2 female Qunari.

IMAGE(http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/dragonage/images/e/e3/Qunari_DA2.png)

Less muscle mass, shorter horns (why am I not surprised they did the same thing with the lady's horns as they did with the Draenei? guys have misshapen foreheads, ladies have less crazy horns that don't ruin the facial beauty in anyway), breasts (probably should have called the barely covered part), and a tad shorter. I win.

That is one boring design. At least keep some of the neck and face features from the male. They have pretty much nothing in common.

Shadout wrote:

That is one boring design. At least keep some of the neck and face features from the male. They have pretty much nothing in common.

Yay for sexism in character design.

IMAGE(http://31.media.tumblr.com/e1da555ed2610593ff78333e80bd3e74/tumblr_msl1oiCfQq1swycu9o1_500.jpg)

Suppose that was inevitable. Surprised I haven't seen it earlier really.

Wonder if I can name my character Torquemada. Because let's face it, you can't Torquemada anything!

Spoiler:

If you don't get that, go watch history of the world by Mel Brooks and be entertained!

IMAGE(http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/dragonage/images/e/e3/Qunari_DA2.png)

And they talk about unrealistic standards for women... There's maybe 1 guy in the whole of human history that has looked like that dude, and he used to shower in steroids and ate like 20,000 calories a day.

Man even his arms/neck aren't nearly as big as the drawing's...

Well they are an alien species to humanity... so I can give them a pass on human males not looking like that... they deliberately screwed around a bit with anatomy to make them humanesque while still feeling unfamiliar and other... but then you have the female version of the species who is an exaggeration of the "ideal body type" with pointy ears and horns that apparently grow in radically different ways than the males of their species...just seems stupid. I love the changes between one and two for the Quunari... but I wish they had gone the same route as they had with Turians and Salarians where there females looked minorly different to the untrained eye... but with enough differences that you got the feeling that if you spent a lot of time around them... it would become more obvious.

Would've preferred going the other way - just to accentuate the alienness of the Qunari. Make the women even more animalistic, even more alien (with their men professing desire for that sort of thing); but also, even more badass. Females being bigger and stronger than males is totally plausible. Why not make a fantasy species like that, if only to shake things up? Missed opportunity there, IMO.

LarryC wrote:

Would've preferred going the other way - just to accentuate the alienness of the Qunari. Make the women even more animalistic, even more alien (with their men professing desire for that sort of thing); but also, even more badass. Females being bigger and stronger than males is totally plausible. Why not make a fantasy species like that, if only to shake things up? Missed opportunity there, IMO.

Not only plausible, but supported by sexual dimorphism in many Earth species. Females are very often larger in species that have strong sexual dimorphism. Totally agreed that it's a missed opportunity.

Demosthenes wrote:

Suppose that was inevitable. Surprised I haven't seen it earlier really. :lol:

I certainly didn't expect it.

muttonchop wrote:
Demosthenes wrote:

Suppose that was inevitable. Surprised I haven't seen it earlier really. :lol:

I certainly didn't expect it.

Virtually no one did.

Their primary weapons are surprise, fear, and an almost fanatical devotion to Hawke.

So, I finished a re-read of the latest Dragon Age book that is set Post-2, I would assume Pre-Inquisition. And, some things come to mind, some good, some bad that will most likely set the landscape of Inquisition.

Spoilered for those who want to experience the world fresh in Inquisition, or who have plans to read the newest book at some point soon.

Spoiler:

-War between the mages, the college came to a decision to split after some events in Orlais, and templars/Seekers, who have split from the Chantry under the direction of a Seeker from Orlais.

* Amusingly, while Kirkwall is looked at as part of the reason for the conflict that originated in Orlais... it sounds like they've set this up as being a completely separate split from the events of Kirkwall... which... I guess I get, some very different things could have happened there... but it does kind of detract from the idea that you could have radically shaped the world in 2.

* Expect to see a lot of importance in whatever mage/templar conflict is going on regarding the Rite of Tranquility. The book contains a fair bit of exploration into an investigation surround it, and its apparent reversal. The process, however, was... not great, and the templars are not likely to view a loophole in their stopping mages from becoming abominations very well based on how it originally happened (not that they would view it well under any circumstance really).

-Wynne will not make a reappearance. Well... I suppose there's a possibility or two regarding a Templar who sided with the mages and Wynne's son... But, unless she popped out of that rift in some magical way, I suspect you will not see her in the flesh.

-Orlais is an interesting place to stage the game, as it's suggested that the country may be in a state of civil war at the time of the book. Whether or not that will be resolved is probably up for grabs, but it could make for an interesting set of side quests, though hopefully done better than the civil war in Skyrim (otherwise known as the kill lots of soldiers over and over again with nearly no real examination of the leaders and their motivations questline :P, not to say that that's not in the game... it's just it's all in books, mostly, outside of like one or two lines of dialog from Ulfric).

-Leiliana is likely to reappear, but whether she'll do so as an agent of the divine or as a party member, up for grabs. She steps in at a pretty critical junction in the mage/templar conflict of the book, and establishes that not ALL of the Seekers are working for the guy who led the schism, but... it's tough to say where she'll fall in all this. Suppose it depends on how the Inquisition is viewed and views the Chantry.

Haven't read those books, are they really worth it? Because I read the two books which covered Maric and Loghain pre-ousting of the Orlesians, but.... Meh. Are the others really good? Are they required reading for Inquisition?

Eleima wrote:

Haven't read those books, are they really worth it? Because I read the two books which covered Maric and Loghain pre-ousting of the Orlesians, but.... Meh. Are the others really good? Are they required reading for Inquisition?

Well, there's only one this time around.

I would say it is better than the other two, for sure, as to whether or not it is required reading...

Normally I would say I doubt it. The Maric and Loghain books clearly wasn't, but it did give you some nice background on Loghain and Duncan and kind of hammered home exactly how convinced Loghain had to have been to betray Maric's son (whose name completely escapes me, wow).

The new one, however, does have a decent chunk of world building going on that will lead into 3. Without having played 3 yet, I can't say for certain how much will be explained and how much won't, obviously. But, there is a decent bit of Wynne and Shale (both of which are great). There's a lot of how the mage/templar situation played out that will most likely be explained in books and through some dialogue in 3, but if you want a more personal look at it, the book gives you that... and just helps bridge 2 to 3... or, really, helps establish some background to 3, I suppose.

The animated movie on Hulu+ is worth a watch if you're in a position to do so. I certainly don't intend to read the books, but appreciate the summary above.

I tried watching the movie, but for somereason I just couldn't get into it...

Demosthenes wrote:

(stuff) But, there is a decent bit of Wynne and Shale (both of which are great).

Okay, stop right there, I'm sold!!!!!
I agree that Calling and whatever the other book's name was were nice in that sense that they did give some insight into Loghain's motivations at Ostagar (which did come out of the blue a bit).
And the mage/Templar interactions are definitely a compelling theme to me, so I guess it's worth a look.

Unfortunately, I don't get Hulu on Dantooine...

I agree that Calling and whatever the other book's name was were nice in that sense that they did give some insight into Loghain's motivations at Ostagar (which did come out of the blue a bit).

I honestly expected for the longest time that the "twist" with that part of the storyline would be him turning into a Pride Demon abomination. It was a little sad to find out that was all from him... but did prove Flemmeth's warning to be true yet another time upon reading and replaying.

I'm curious what the Qunari's place is going to be here. Orlais and Ferelden are long way from Par Volien, and it's not like the Tevinter aren't all over the place with their state-sponsored slavers and ships. But then again, they were down to the Free Marches without too much trouble other than storms and a promiscuous pirate, and it's not much more than a short journey to Orlais and Ferelden from there.

I'd have to imagine though, if you're going to have a Qunari, he or she is going to have to be a Tal-Vasoth... which, if there is anything going on with the Qunari like last time, will create some pretty hostile negotiations.

Dwarf Rogue to start for sure, but this sounds like it's going to have a lot of replay value for the various backgrounds you choose and how people will interact with you, similarly to Origins.

Edit: Meathausered!

Okay, so I didn't watch the whole thing, but the first couple of minutes looks pretty nice. Looking forward to it, I'm just glad they're not rushing it out the door.

Looks great. Just the sort of game I want from Dragon Age.

Nice animation on the characters and great plants :).

If you don't have time for the whole thing, watch just the last few minutes, animation on that dragon is amazing.

All the stuff they were talking about sounds really great, it seems the series is going back to its roots, too bad it's scheduled for fall of 2014, I want it now.