Dragon Age: Inquisition

BioWare is planning on fusing elements of both earlier games in the series, Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age II, into the creation of Dragon Age: Inquisition.^[8] The game will feature larger environments with much more opportunity for exploration.^{[citation needed]}

BioWare has confirmed that multiple playable races are returning, both male and female. Players can play as a human, dwarf, or elf just like in Dragon Age: Origins. Additionally, Qunari are also playable for the first time.^[11]

However, combat is expected to differ somewhat from its direct predecessor and focus more on a player's ability to prepare, position, and form a cohesive team with his or her party members,^[12] requiring fewer repetitive finger strikes but better thinking like the first installment.^[12] Tactical view also returns for all five platforms in Dragon Age: Inquisition^{[citation needed]}, whereas before it was exclusive to PC in Dragon Age: Origins, and was removed entirely in Dragon Age II.

The romance aspect of the game has been overhauled. As opposed to BioWare's previous gift and dialogue based system, romance arcs will occur in reaction to events and variables specific to each character and include sex scenes.^[13][14] Additionally, not all romance arcs require sex.^[15]

Developers vowed to their fans that, compared to its predecessors, the decisions they made throughout the series will have a greater impact on the story and that the player will be given more control over their gaming experience.^[16]

Customization is said to be expanded in the next game.^[17] The developers addressed mainly how equipment would be handled with party members. They described a situation in which the player found a breastplate and decided to give it to a party member; depending upon which party member received it, the breastplate would automatically adjust its shape and aesthetics in order to fit that particular character while still maintaining his or her identity. It was also hinted that armor customization will go as far as altering its color and pattern.^[18] Players will also be able to customize their keeps which will be able to be customized for espionage, commerce or military might depending on the type of keep the player has chosen. The player will also be given a series of options to affect the area around the keep, such as building statues or capping vents. The player, though, will apparently not have enough resources for all the options available, as the Inquisition's resources are limited.^[19]

Laidlaw confirmed that some ability will likely exist for players to import their save files from the first two games into Dragon Age: Inquisition "to shore up world consistency".^[20]

Ray Muzyka, BioWare's former CEO, said in an interview with Wired.com that Dragon Age: Inquisition would be influenced by more open world games, such as The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, which BioWare is "checking out aggressively."^[21] Also, the developers promised their fans that they will no longer reuse environments, which was considered a main issue in Dragon Age II.^[18] Regarding the more open-world nature of the game, BioWare has stated that while they looked to Skyrim for inspiration, it will not be quite that open.

Players will be able to gain influence in areas of the world by capturing keeps or forts. This is achieved by defeating the occupants of the keep or fort. Once the Inquisition has a base in the area, new areas, if applicable, will open up and become available to the player. These areas may have been blocked before, such as by a hazardous gas. By opening up such areas players will not only be able to explore the whole of an area but will also be able to visit previously unreachable locations and side quests.^[19]

Tactical view introduced in Dragon Age: Origins returns in Inquisition.

Inquisition will also feature two forms of combat system. The first is reminiscent of that which is found in most action-RPG's, includingDragon Age II. This system is action oriented and follows the player in a typical over-the-shoulder third person style. The second is closer to that of an old RPG, including Dragon Age: Origins. This combat system allows players to pause the game, assign locations and orders to the characters in their group and then resume the game to see it played out. During the use of this second more strategic combat system, the camera will be closer to that of a top down view, instead of the usual over-the-shoulder third person style of the action based combat system. This combat system is named Tactical View and also allows for the placing of traps while the game is paused.^[19]

Player choice is said to play a large role in Inquisition because players control the leader of the Inquisition, the Inquisitor. This means that choices made by the player may close quests and whole areas off. One such example would be the destruction of a village, which means that while this area can still be reached, no associated content for that area can be accessed. This works both ways, though, as areas previously unreachable can be reached, via capturing forts or keeps.^[19]

Pre-alpha demo footage showed Inquisition possessing a Skyrim-esque style compass bar across the top of the HUD. This navigation bar marked both discovered, visited locations and those that are yet to be found. Undiscovered locations appeared with a "?" on the navigation bar.^[19] Subsequent public demos showed a return to the more usual on screen mini-map format.

Players are able to take control of any member of their party during battle and use each characters special abilities to aid them against particular types of enemies in battle.^[19]

As the Inquisitor, players also decide how to deploy agents and troops of the Inquisition. This includes withdrawing from attacks by enemies.^[19]

The game features some destructibility, with players being able to destroy gates, crates, etc.^[19] The various regions that make up the game world do not scale in level. They have a fixed level, which means players can be either too weak or strong for the enemies found in that region.^[19]

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