Lately I’ve had the sudden urge to talk more generally about the next Dragon Age - this is something I haven’t done in a while, and originally my channel was built on huge conversational videos. So, I’ve decided to boot up more discussion-based videos, however, this time with a twist. After I’ve composed my own topical, heavily opinionated video, I’m going to throw the conversation at the community and create a follow-up video featuring as many of your unique, funny and amazing ideas as possible.
Today I’m exploring things I’d like to see in the next game - a very broad topic for kicking this series off, so, let me know what one thing you would like to see in the next Dragon Age. You have until April 30th, so share in the comments down below or tweet at me. I will take at least thirty of the community’s best ideas and put them in a follow-up video after the deadline date.
If I were you, I’d try to think of something distinctive and unique that you’d like to see going forward. With that said, while you’re contemplating about what you’d like to send in, here’s my very own subjective list of ten things I want in the next Dragon Age game.
1. Improved Character Creator
So, I really like Inquisition's character creator. It offers plenty of customisation, allowing the player to create vastly different characters and not to mention, it supports 4 incredibly distinct races with their own unique features - It’s a great system for a game that came out in 2014. However, for today’s standards, there needs to be a few drastic changes for the character creator in the next Dragon Age.
For instance, I know I speak for everyone in the fandom when I say we need better and more refined hairstyles. BioWare please, we don’t need 7 different types of bald hairstyles, we want a wide variety of attractive, physics-based hairstyles to choose between.
The only way I’ve been able to make decent-looking Inquisitor’s with nice-looking hairstyles has been through the amazing modding community. But that shouldn’t be the case. We all want to make our next hero look as stunning as possible, a huge win toward that goal is, straight up, with decent hairstyles.
On top of that, I’d like to see more customisable options like additional skin tones, facial cosmetics like jewelry and piercings, more voluptuous and enticing make-up designs, body sliders, larger Qunari horns, bushier dwarven beards, new vallaslin styles and tattoos.
All in all, I just want to create a new desirable hero that looks just as good as their love interest. And by the way things are going, ‘Harley Qun’ is standing over there in all of her beauty, and it’s going to take a lot to make a hero as stunning as her. I’m hopeful though.
2. Faction-Based Origin Stories
You already know the drill with this one, The Dragon Age 4 2020 Game Awards trailer revealed that we’ll be playing as a new hero, someone they’ll never see coming. There’s no magical anchor and no ancient prophecy this time around, the next hero is going to be someone completely new and ordinary.
The trailer also showcased a few factions our new hero will witness in the next game, seemingly these factions were: The Grey Wardens, The Antivan Crows, The Tevinter Siccari or a Tevinter anti-slavery movement and The Executors. Considering the way this trailer was portrayed with Varric’s exposition of the next hero, and the trailer showcasing key individuals in important factions of Thedas - perhaps this time around we can choose the faction the new hero belongs to as an origin story.
It’s confirmed that we’re going to interact with each of these factions and have companions who’re from each of them, but can the next hero actually be a part of one of these factions from the very start? Well, that’s the dream. If the next hero is someone completely mundane, it’d be very nice if we could choose their role within one of Thedas’ key factions.
I think this dynamic would add a ton of replay value, as the player could explore each of these factions in completely different ways. Not to mention, they’d act as a return to the original Dragon Age.
Origin stories were one contributing factor to Dragon Age: Origin’s acclaim. I think it'd be an excellent idea to see them return in the next instalment.
3. A Fulfilling Antagonist
So, you all know I love Dragon Age: Inquisition, right? Well, I hate to say it, but there’s something I don’t love about the game that sticks out like a sore thumb and that’s it’s main villain - good ol’, Corypheus, the twirly mustache, one dimensional evil-magister with a cliche’ nefarious scheme. I know David Gaider has shared in the past that Corypheus’s undevelopment was one of the team’s biggest regrets about Inquisition, and I can see why.
Conceptually, Corypheus is a great villain, he’s an ancient being who’s had his entire beliefs thrown out of the window. As of which, he seeks the demise of all gods in an attempt to become one himself. There’s so much intrigue in his character and what he revealed about the nature of Thedas, he could’ve been an incredible villain given what he knows, but instead, he felt rather half-baked, and sidelined.
I suppose Corypheus was sacrificed because of Inquisition’s true enemy, Solas, an incredibly well-written, developed character with ample amounts of empathy and ambiguity. A villain who set in motion the Inquisitor’s journey and continues to walk his path of death, no matter the cost, however, not because he’s a one-noted stereotype, but instead because he seeks the restoration of his own people - a perplexing stance, and one that can not so easily be defined as evil.
In every regard Solas is a fulfilling antagonist, but this is Dragon Age, folks. The games have never had a single main villain, there’s always been another evil threat lurking behind the scenes, or a loving mage companion ready to stab you in the back.
While I’m certain Solas will be the main threat for at least three quarters of the next game, there’s most assuredly going to be a villain flip, and our hero will be introduced to the narrative’s true antagonist. Whether that’s the Blight, or Mythal, or the Evanuris, or the Titans, or the Forgotten Ones, Sandal, etc, I just hope that whoever the main villain is - they’re as fulfilling as Solas is at the moment.
The Trespasser DLC was a masterpiece at turning the events of Corypheus’s plan into Solas’s grand scheme, it was fulfilling in its entirety, even further, the Dread Wolf as a villain scares the crap out of me and I love that, Tevinter Night’s revelations have me vying for an encounter with Solas as the horrifying Dread Wolf. I’m livid for it, but also incredibly intrigued.
I’m just hoping that whoever topples Solas as the main threat is just as fulfilling and terrifying.
4. A More Linear Approach
So, our new hero is going to Northern Thedas, that’s a lot of land to cover - what is going to be the open-world approach this time around?
As I’m sure the majority of you are aware, Dragon Age: Inquisition featured hub-based open-world spaces where the player could freely explore to their own discretion. While the areas were vastly different and incredibly beautiful with their distinctive styles and gameplay mechanics - this open-world approach was very much a new and different direction for the franchise, and frankly, for BioWare as a whole.
The previous Dragon Age games followed a linear with freedom, hub-based approach where the player engaged with fairly linear levels - each with a set path, however, there was plenty of room to explore with side-quests and other content in the levels.
In contrast, Dragon Age: Inquisition followed an open-world, hub-based approach where the player engaged with an open, hub-based world that had many avenues for exploration with an emphasis on side-content.
While the worlds were very fun to explore, this approach took the attention away from the main narrative and instead made the player engage with busy-work in order to progress through the story.
With a huge new continent planned for Dragon Age 4, I’d like the game to return to its original linear with freedom, hub-based approach, very much akin to how the Trespasser DLC handled it.
None of the levels in Trespasser were large, open-world areas locked behind a power mechanic. Instead, they were very much linear with freedom areas. You’d enter through an eluvian when you wanted to start the next level, and then within each area, there was smaller, meaningful content for the player to discover. However, there was a clear main path for the player to stick to and continue with the narrative. No open worlds and no busy-work.
The Trespasser DLC is proof that perhaps Dragon Age 4’s open-world aspect could be stripped back to the franchise’s original layout and design, allowing for more focussed areas and an emphasised narrative with less clutter.
5. Impactful Choices & Consequences
Of course, it can’t be Dragon Age without facing the consequences of our own actions - choice and decision-making is a huge aspect that defines BioWare RPGs.
Going forward, I’d like to see deeper and more impactful choices. While I may sound a bit like a masochist, I like the idea that party members can live or die based on key decisions the player has made. Mass Effect 2’s sucide mission is an amazing example of giving the player complete control over your party’s lives, in hindsight, maybe Shepard had too much control, but I love the concept of my choices having severe consequences.
That’s one of the reasons I play BioWare games to begin with. I like each decision I make carrying some weight like when characters react to my hero’s actions and questioning if it was a good call to make. I love Dragon Age’s approval system and how each character responds differently based on their own ideologies. If this system is in the next game, it’d be nice to see each of our party’s affinity via a UI feature.
Overall, more reactivity and agency centred on the player’s decisions is all I can ask for. Having the stakes raised in every mission makes the decision-making that much more intense, and I love that.
6. A Dynamic Hub
Given the enigmatic nature of our next hero - the fact that they’re going to be someone who Solas would never suspect, we’re going to need a new hub that suits our hero’s skullduggery motives. While an estate in one of Tevinter’s many cities sounds swell, I’d love the next player hub to be a ship.
Northern Thedas is surrounded by the sea, the perfect way to traverse from Minrathous to Antiva City would be by setting sail on a large vessel with our crew. It’d be the perfect reason to bring back Isabela as a pirate captain too.
More importantly, we know BioWare can do these sorts of hubs incredibly well and I don’t need to convince you too much, you just need to look at Mass Effect. While the Normandy is a spaceship, the idea is essentially the same. A transportation-focused player space that allows the hero to interact with their crew and push on with the main narrative. It’s really that straightforward and I think it would be riveting to have a mobile hub that moves around with the player.
7. Less Familiarity
A lot of fans may disagree with me on this one and that’s completely fine, but allow me to explain myself before you gather the pitchforks.
We can tell from the latest Dragon Age trailers that in the next game, our new hero will be travelling to brand-new, never-before experienced regions of Northern Thedas like Tevinter and Antiva. These new locations will introduce a completely different slice of Thedas, the next hero will encounter new characters, new cultures, new lore, you guessed it, everything is going to be pretty new and that’s exactly what I want going forward - a totally distinct experience with less familiarity from the previous games.
While I would love to see the return of many companions and characters from the previous Dragon Age games. And I mean exclusively the games - to avoid an oxymoron, I’m not talking about characters introduced in the comics or books returning in the future, that is something I definitely want to see - but in Dragon Age 4, I want to meet and fall in love with brand-new BioWare characters that haven’t appeared in previous games.
For example, I don’t want to run into Oghren again in a Tevinter pub just for the sake of it, it would make Thedas feel way too small, and not only that, but there needs to be an actual reason for a character’s return besides fan demands.
Like why would Oghren be in Tevinter? What purpose would he serve? Does it make sense for him to be there? Does he have enough plot potential there? If not, then he simply shouldn’t be in the next game. Sorry Oghren, I like you, but there needs to be room for original characters.
The Inquisitor themselves said they need to find new people who Solas doesn’t know to rise against him, Solas is adept at learning the weakness of characters who are known to him. Therefore we need a new team with frankly less returning characters.
While I’m certain, we’ll encounter many cameos returning as pivotal roles like Dorian, Scout Harding, Varric, The Inquisitor, and so on. And we’ll have codex’s and conversations about many previous characters throughout the games. There are a lot of faces who just shouldn’t return for many reasons.
The first being simply because said character doesn’t have a motivation in the next narrative, and secondly, BioWare are crafting completely different and diverse characters for our new hero to experience. I’m sorry for calling you out again Oghren, but who needs to see Oghren again when we have new characters like Grey Warden Evka Ivo or Strife, or another character introduced in Tevinter Nights or even Felassan from Masked Empire.
I say let’s see more original characters and less returning ones. And this speaks for the narrative as a whole too. Seemingly, Dragon Age 4 is going to be the first game where the player isn’t in Ferelden. And honestly, it’s about time. Let’s witness many parts of the Imperium in its full glory without any mention of the South.
We’re going to a new continent, there should be significant differences than what we’ve ever seen before in a Dragon Age title. So I say let’s have more originality, and less familiarity.
8. Tighter & More Intricate Combat
Okay, confession time: I am one of those gamer’s ™ who very much enjoys playing games on hard difficulties, it provides a great challenge and forces the player to utilize every system the game has to offer. For example, when playing nightmare on Dragon Age: Inquisition, I focused all my efforts on crafting and ensuring my main party was fully-kitted with the best gear possible before venturing into a new area, or on a main mission.
I spent time resource-gathering and questing throughout the hub-worlds, I felt like I was pouring into everything the game offered, and that was very enjoyable experiencing the content that I may otherwise have missed if I’d played on an easier difficulty and I could’ve just pushed on without any challenge.
So, having experienced Dragon Age Inquisition's combat at its highest difficulty, it’s a fun synergy of your party’s abilities mixed with an element of tactics. For the next game, I’d like BioWare to remove the tactics system and go with an action-based approach. While I used the tactics system on harder difficulties, and it was great for pausing combat while you’re in the midst of danger, I know for a fact the system was just under-utilised and no one really sings its praises.
Instead, I’d love to see a more tighter and intricate system with an over the shoulder camera angle approach. Inquisition was great with its many different specializations for the three iconic classes, however, I didn’t like that each of the party members were also one of those attainable specializations. I want party members to have their own unique class specializations exactly like how the party members in Dragon Age II were distinctly unique combat-wise.
Like only Isabela was a Swashbuckler, only Sebastian was a Royal Archer, only Fenris was a Tevinter Fugitive, etc. That way, there’s more of an incentive to choose party members for specific combat encounters, it felt a little bit diminishing having two Rift Mages or two Reavers in my party, while I loved bringing Solas or Iron Bull with me, I didn’t like the fact that they had the exact same abilities as my Inquisitor. I want companions to be completely distinct in combat from the player.
I’d also like more balance between the classes. Mages in Dragon Age are always going to be insanely powerful and fun to play, and that’s awesome, but if that’s the case, let’s boost up the rogue and warrior classes so they can be just as respectfully powerful and fun. I’d love it if the classes could be so uniquely distinctive that it almost feels like you’re playing a different game when playing as a different class.
So, yeah, I have a fair few wishes for the next game’s combat. Honestly, though as long as it’s fun to play, then I’m sure it’ll be a grand time.
9. More Fulfilling Romances
Dragon Age already has plenty of charming and heartfelt moments between characters who become more than just your friends. In the next game, I would love to see even more saucy, seductive, ravishing and foxy romances. Ones that make you physically gasp: “oooooolala” and “ahhhh”, not ones’ that make you cry and scream at 3 am while you repeat the Lost Elf theme waiting for him to come back, but he never will because he’s got his own shit to deal with... Less of those kinds of romances, unless you’re into that? But I’m not.
Instead, I am into big Qunari ladies, and I mean nice and tall. One that my new hero can grab her huge horns and ride. That’s the kind of romance I’d LOVE to see.
Even further, I’d love more cute dates with romance options, maybe taking trips to Antiva for a chai latte, something like that. I’d like to have more intimate conversations with love interests, not sexual, but like maybe a bit, but also deeply personal and character-revealing.
I’m always eager to see how BioWare will improve their romances, they’ve always wowed me each time, and I think they’ll continue to do that in Dragon Age 4.
10. Closure With The Inquisitor & Solas
If I had only one wish from a magical genie that I could spend on the next Dragon Age’s narrative, I’d spend it on, ultimately, what I feel the next plot requires - some closure between the Inquisitor and Solas. Let me explain.
The Inquisitor and Solas have a severe connection, whether the Inquisitor was Solas’s friend, adversary or even lover, the two started their journey together, and I feel they need to reach some sort of ending together.
The main tale going forward regards Solas’s scheme, however, this time around with a new hero to kick it to him. While the Inquisition was Solas’s starting blocks, his plan will wreak havoc on all of Thedas. I’m sure aspects of Solas’s immediate chaos will be the call to action for our new hero, which I’m totally excited for.
However, the Inquisitor deserves a slice of this narrative, they should witness Solas once more. The Inquisitor swore in Trespasser that they would either attempt to redeem Solas or stop him outright. That right there was a decision made by the player establishing some sort of outcome in the next game.
With that choice, there needs to be some establishment of the Inquisitor. To some capacity, the Inquisitor must return for Dragon Age 4 so they can finish what they intended to do with Solas, and then both characters can reach their climax - whatever that may be.
In any regard, these are just ten things I’d like to see in the next game. Now it’s your turn, let me know what one thing you’d like to see in Dragon Age 4 and you may be featured in the follow up to this video. You’ve got till April 30th, so get typing and send me your ideas asap. With that said, if you’d like to chat more, why not consider becoming a channel member and joining my very friendly Dragon Age discord server, along with a few other perks.
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