Maybe we're the weird ones, but when it comes to ranking EA's games in order of excitement, our chart's probably a little bit backwards compared to your average bloke/woman on the street. You can keep your FIFAs and your Battlefields, because if you asked us which game we're looking forward to the most at the moment, Dragon Age: Inquisition would rank right at the very top.
If you've never played one of Bioware's sprawling party-based role-playing games (and if you haven't, you really should - you'll never forget your first. Ours was Baldur's Gate on PC way back in 1998), then you've been missing out on some of the best, most story driven games you'll ever play. With many a quest to complete, branching dialogue trees to navigate, with the words you choose having a real effect on both the game, and the characters within it, and a fantasy land filled with magic, warriors and massive dragons, there are plenty of reasons to look forward to Dragon Age: Inquisition.
Picking up where Dragon Age 2 left off, Dragon Age: Inquisition focuses on an all out war between two factions - the Mages, and the rogue Templars of the Chantry. All hell breaks loose (literally) when a cataclysmic event plunges the continent of Thedas into chaos. You take the role of the Inquisitor, the sole survivor of this event, and are tasked with "saving the world from itself". Which of course means exploring the vast areas of Ferelden and Orlais, forming character relationships, battling with foes both undead and human alike and attempting to restore order to the world. In other words, all the good stuff we've come to expect from the Dragon Age series.
As the Inquisitor, your main focus will be to build up a force large enough to deal with all the various looming threats - but you won't be alone. Over the course of the game you'll be able to grow your party, forming an adventuring group from a selection of nine companions. You'll see returning faces rom past games, such as the sultry Witch of the Wilds (and fan favourite) Morrigan, and Varric, along with meeting many new characters along the way.
Building relationships with these characters has always been a key part of the Dragon Age experience, and unlocking each of their personal quests will no doubt offer some deep insight into their motivations to fight alongside you. More than just a helping hand in combat, the characters that form your party help keep both the plot, and the game in general exciting. Not all characters get on with each other, and you'll have to work to stop tempers from boiling over - make a decision a character disagrees with, and you may have an outright mutiny on your hands - but play your cards right, and finding love in the fragile world of Dragon Age isn't out of the question.
We're very happy to see Morrigan back.
For the first time in the series you'll be able to completely customise your character. Bioware have expanded the race roster to include not just Human, but also Elven, Dwarf and Quanari races, with plenty of scope for adding character to your, er, character. You can even go as far as adding nuances such as a broken nose, scars, horns or tattoos, in one of the most in-depth character creators we've ever seen. It certainly one-ups the likes of Skyrim.
Speaking of Skyrim, Inquisition seems to have taken one or two leaves from the Elder Scrolls tree, with areas that are much larger than past games. Game environments look gorgeous, with all manner of fancy effects (particularly the rain, which will have you reaching for a brolly in your own living room), creating a world you'll be able to lose yourself in for hours.
Bioware has repeatedly boasted that this is the biggest game world they've ever created. Producer Cameron Lee has stated that they want to give players a "real world to explore". This can definitely be seen in each area's unique in visual style - from large open fields to icy cliffs and sinking swamp lands, there's plenty to experience - which is a welcome breath of fresh air when compared to the repeated assets and environments of Dragon Age 2.
Biomes are beautiful offering unique locations to explore.
The emphasis on exploration is aided by a strictly 'hands off' approach to story progression. Instead of holding your hand throughout, you're encouraged to find your own way through the story, with rewards for finding every nook and cranny of this "fully immersive" world. While you can blaze a trail through the story, completing quests and pushing on with the plot, you can easily while away the hours by ignoring the quests altogether, instead opting to just run around collecting crafting materials, closing rifts to the Fade, activating landmarks, solving puzzles and more. You may even find yourself stumbling across items for missions that you haven't even accepted yet. It's a much more fluid dynamic at play here - but we do have a few reservations. While a hands-off approach is all well and good, we're hoping there'll be at least some way to find out where you're supposed to be going easily. When we went hands-on with the game at German games fest, gamescom, we found ourselves getting totally lost - so some sort of nav beacon, or handy pop-up route would be much appreciated.
Oh you can also jump now, which might get you a little closer to that dragon.
Combat has been overhauled, with Bioware seemingly going out of their way to find a happy medium between Dragon Age Origins' tactical combat and Dragon Age 2's more action heavy, button mashing offerings. How have they done that, you ask? Well, by bringing back the top-down, more strategic (and totally optional) tactical mode - something that should make the micro managers among us very happy indeed.
At any point during your standard third person fight, you can tap the select button and go into tactical mode, causing the gameplay to freeze, and the camera to pull out above the battlefield. From here you can get a clear overview on all ally and enemy positions, figure out your options, and set commands for each of your allies, without having to worry about being jumped by an angry ork. Its much like Origins, except with a much cleaner visual representation of information. Once you've made your choices, you can jump straight back into the standard hack 'n' slash gameplay at the touch of a button, or choose to stay in tactical mode, advancing gameplay little by little by holding the right trigger.
Naturally, you can choose whatever style of combat suits you best, and can arrange your team to suit. If you want to play it safe, you could choose to play as a mage, and let your allies handle the up close stuff while you keep a safe distance and fire off the odd spell - or maybe you want to set up elemental combo attacks using tactical mode, and have the whole team work together. It's a choice that's up to you - and one that should ensure both newcomers, and the Dragon Age hardcore are readily catered too.
If all else fails you can always just zap your enemies to death.
After you're done with all the exploration, you can take a little break by fast travelling to Skyhold, your castle and keep, which (much like Dragon Age Origin's camp and Mass Effect's Normandy ship) acts as a central hub for you and your allies - although, unlike past games, there's noticeably a lot more to do here. Firstly its completely customisable, letting you choose your perfect throne, windows, curtains, etc. to suit your mood. Want to visit one of your many companions? That's easy - each has their own special area in the castle and you can drop in on them whenever you like, strengthen your character bonds, or perhaps pursue more romantic entanglements if you so wish.
That said, your main port of call will most likely be the much more intimidating sounding War Table. Here you can spend the 'Power' you've amassed (by completing story missions) to unlock additional areas to move the story along or gain extra quests. You can also send out agents on their own missions to help spread the Inquisition's influence across Orlais and Ferelden, netting you bonsues in the process. For instance, your agents may have to convince a king that his advisor is a traitor, and you'll have to decide which of your three allies is best suited to this task, taking them out of use in the game for a pre set period of time, but netting you a hefty reward if they succeed, in the form of influence, followers, and gold or resources.
Your base of command; Skyhold. You'll be spending a lot of time here.
The Skyhold is also where you'll get the chance to reflect on the quests you've completed. From time to time, random characters will turn up based on the story actions you've taken in the game. If you accidentally burnt down a house during one of your quests, the family might turn up at your castle gates looking for shelter. But what do you do? Give them help, seeing as it's your fault they're homeless, or send them packing? Its completely up to you.
Another welcome addition is the ability to customise the abilities and look of equipment for both you and your allies (another feature which was mysteriously missing from Dragon Age 2). Letting you use the various crafting materials you've collected throughout the game, here you'll be able to tweak, adjust, and otherwise buff your weapons to best suit your needs. It also means that if you can always keep your favourite lower level weapon and boost its abilities rather than swapping it out for a an uglier model.
Double flame swords are sure to make you look like a badass.
Much like it's predecessor Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age Inquisition will even feature a standalone four player co-operative multiplayer mode - but unlike ME3, Bioware have promised that it will have no connection with the single player campaign. Although it looks as if it will play out in much the same way, dropping you and your allies into a large randomly generated arena, where you'll face off against a load of AI enemies (no PvP here), it's a nice touch if nothing else. Do well, and you'll be rewarded with gold that you can use to buy treasure chests, which contain items and recipes to upgrade your multiplayer character. In actual fact, its pretty much exactly the same fair as ME3, even down to the time-saving Platinum currency (micro-transaction alert!).
Multiplayer sees you and your buddies battle against a horde of enemies.
After the mixed outing that was Dragon Age 2 (although it divided fans of the original, our own Sarah loved it), it's good to see Bioware seemingly back on form with Dragon Age Inquisition. With the game boasting a whopping 200 hours of gameplay, there's enough here to keep you busy until the winter's long gone.
Dragon Age: Inquisition will launch 21st November for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and PC.
