I’m back with my second community-led video spotlighting many of the fandom’s opinions and ideas on the next Dragon Age. Last time, I shared my own very subjective and opinionated ideas on the next hero. At the end of that video, I threw the conversation to you all, asking what you’d like to see regarding the next protagonist.
And so, here I am with at least 30 of your unique, fun and interesting ideas on the next hero, ranging from their identity, background, customisation, plot points and their rise to power in the next Dragon Age.
As per usual, if you’re not featured in this video, don’t worry, there will be plenty more opportunities in future wishlist videos. Anyhow, there’s plenty to go over, so let’s hit this off with what you folks would like to see regarding faction-based origin stories and backgrounds for our new hero.
Character Background/Backstories:
solas' chew toy - New Backgrounds & Locations
“I'd love to explore completely new backgrounds and locations. But, I'd also like to see a lot more of Tevinter or Nevarra and have a character develop there. But I'm also very curious about the Avvar and their mages, so... I just want various origin backgrounds.”
Michał Laszuk - Hero Background Questlines
“I would like each of the next protagonist's backgrounds to include a questline. To give an example: If you're a Crow then at some point in the game you'd realize that one of your past targets isn't actually dead and you have to track and confront them, or, for instance, if you're a Tal-Vashoth then perhaps you'd be faced with a group of Ben-Hasrath trying to convert you into the Qun.”
Lisa Sarina - Backstory Details
“Speaking of backgrounds; besides the ability to pick an origin story, I would like to have the option to tell my companions little details about my character's background/life, to help shape your character even more, and make them even more of a person. Kinda like you can do with Morrigan in DA:O, where she asks you about your mother. And iirc Josie in DA:I asks you about your past as well. I'd love for those kinds of conversations to be more frequent in the next game, and maybe even more detailed answers that you can give.”
Nagram - Intro Set Of Missions
“I can see depending on the faction origins that we choose (assuming that's a thing) how we play through an introductory set of missions for each background and at the end of all of them Solas appears (without interacting with the player) creates conflict and in some way the player becomes involved.”
isidorn images - Nug Farm
“As long as you can be an owner of a nug farm.”
Moving on from origin stories and backgrounds, let’s explore some of your ideas on the next hero’s characteristics.
Hero’s Characteristics:
Christina Morris - Darker Morality
“Personally, I want to see a return to...darker morality options as were present in Origins (and to a lesser extent, Dragon Age II). My main gripe with the Inquisitor is how...flat, they felt, at times, sort of pigeonholed into being the saviour of the realm and fairly upright, morally. While there were some darker choices, I want a less codified role for the new player character so that we can play anti-heroes or "walk a dark path" as Alistair will say of the Hero of Ferelden if your world state includes an "evil" Warden.”
Lucas Luna - More Voices/Accents
“I want more voice/accent options for the MC. I'd kill to have a protagonist with an Antivan accent.”
Quintyss - Reasons To Care
“A plethora of cosmetic options are always nice to have, but for me, those aren't most important for defining my hero. I want reasons to care about the people around me. Survival of the village matters because its villagers have endeared themselves to me. I want a reason to go back because a cute musician in a tavern winked at me and made me blush. I want to get to know them.”
“If I talk to someone and they give me a quest I want different ways to solve the problem by class. For example, I talk to a merchant who wants to help me but his staff broke into 3 pieces, and his dog made off with them. If I can track and talk to animals I can get help from the dog. If the merchant's child overhears and remembers seeing the gem being dropped down a hole in a fairy ring, I can polymorph into a fairy and enter the hole. I want side quests to matter and be rewarded for exploration in meaningful ways.”
Chantel - Customizable Features
“I would love to have customizable pronouns, body types, tattoos, scars, hairstyles/outfits for different occasions, longer/more involved romances with more cutscenes, backstories and characters from the past (like Origins)! (Basically make the main character have a past instead of it being like they just started existing when the game began).”
Anna B - Race/Class Impact
“I want what Race/Class the MC is to affect EVERYTHING! I play as an elven mage, 2 of the top 5 most misunderstood groups of people. This doesn’t affect my character in any way, but it should. In small ways like dialogue, and big ways that affect the main plot.”
Pushing ahead, let’s take a gander at what you folks would like to see for the next character creator and other hero customisation elements.
Character Customisation:
Sasha - Different Art Style
“OK SO for what I'd want for DA4 in terms of character customisation mostly comes in the form of art style.”
“It's very unlikely to happen due to the direction we've seen BioWare go in when it comes to the art style, but I'd personally like it if the game was stylised. Not heavily stylised like nintendo games, but stylised enough that there's better performance, but also things like hair would be easier to make look good without causing too many issues in-game. The realistic faces and plastic hair of Inquisition just weren't it for me. Stylised games can still look very stunning! I'm just tired of games basically becoming interactive movies rather than just games.”
“Edit: By stylised I mean more in the same vein of Life Is Strange and The Witcher 3 (probably leaning more to the latter) where it's realistic enough to fit the tone of the game while being stylised enough to feel like a game and be more user friendly to people who can't afford expensive PCs.”
Asher King - Unique Skill Tree
“I would like a unique skill tree that only our MC has. Even better if they had a unique perk or two tied directly to your character's backstory, assuming we get multiple origins, or maybe just tied to race. Having certain skills be very rare unlockable quest rewards would be very nice too.”
jnachos - Predetermined Backstories
“Something that I think would be interesting to see regarding character creation would be something similar to Divinity 2: a few preset options that have pre-determined backstories and traits and such, or you can do a fully custom build from scratch. I think this system appeases average casual players who don't care about making a really detailed OC, and still leaves a ton of room for creativity.”
heather whatever - More Options
“I really just want more character customization options — a height slider, proportion sliders, natural hair & braids!”
Tanner Keene - Points Comeback
“I’d like personality points to make a comeback, investing points into charisma and intimidation and such to unlock more dialogue options and possibly skip small fights for it.”
Fdeeaa - More Hairstyles & Formal Wear
“I wish to see more hairstyles instead of varieties of baldness and it would be nice to customise it to be different for action and casual wear. And please, if there will be some formal event give us some dresses too.”
Em - Personality
“I'd like prosthetics to be an option for character customization. There was a character in Tevinter Nights (Neve) who had a prosthetic leg. Also, the ability to pick your personality like in DA:2 would be nice. Little differences to how they behave in cutscenes where you are not directing the dialog. And if they bring that back, I want an option for a sarcastic hero once again.”
Moving on from customisation, let’s explore what you’d like to see for the next hero’s plot and their involvement with it.
Plot Involvement:
Xer - Solas Memories
“I would like to see an interaction between the MC and Solas in the Fade and seeing memories from Solas, and seeing his past, and regrets (with the possible romance with the Inquisitor).”
Micael Inez - Best Friend
“Let us have a best friend! I don't want to romance everyone to be a part of their lives. It would be fun if we could have a platonic relationship, a best friend. A chance to have a deeper relationship without wanting to kiss the character. We could hang out and do stupid things together instead of having dates.”
caragh - Pet Companion
“Idk if someone said it before, but I want to have an animal companion someday, be it griffon or something else.”
Sophie - Out-brain Solas
“I hope we get the chance to out-brain Solas the brainiac. Since we won't have much power, the next game sounds like a very David against Goliath kind of battle. We would have to find a weak spot to exploit if we want to win. I would hope that if this was the way to defeat the Dread Wolf, we would find a different solution dependent on our own unique backstory.”
alex stewart - Inquisitor Relationship
“It would be interesting if you came in conflict with the Inquisitor or their allies, or ally depending on your Inquisitor's personality and choices.”
Say - More Diplomatic-Style Quests
“Unpopular opinion: I loved Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts, so I would also like the protagonist to be involved in more diplomatic-style quests, where there is little to no combat.”
Rocky Bilei - The Hero of Ferelden
“I want to see the Hero of Ferelden have an impact in this game and their story since DA:O explained.”
And, just for fun, let’s throw a few random rapid-fire community wishes out there.
Rapid Fire Community Wishes:
Mateo Garcia - Normal Hero
“I would like a new character that is not a god or has superpowers. I just want a normal person like Shepard, and also bring back the dark fantasy that made Dragon Age unique.”
22RiaKon22 - A Good Mix
“I just wanna mix of Origins' options, Inquisition's character creator and Hawke's personality/charm lvl.”
Micael Inez - Cultured Hero
“I just want a dalish elf that knows he's own culture. Lavellan barely spoke the language. Common, BioWare! Let us be smart!”
SpectreSaunders - No Human Nobles
“For a protagonist who is "ordinary", can we please play a human that isn't a noble for once BioWare.”
AJ Walsh - Multi-classes
“I'd love to see classes have the choice to specialize some minor abilities from other classes. For example, rogues that can enchant arrows, mages/warriors with trap disarm and lock picking ability..”
Mr.ReadingFarTooMuch - Musical
“I want the Main Cast to have beautiful voices for that damned MUSICAL DLC I NEED IN MY VEINS!”
And that’ll do it for the next heroes wishlist, for the next topic, I’d say begin to think about the next major threats of Dragon Age and what you’d like to see for the antagonists of the next game. I’m certainly considering that as the next topic, so let me know any and all thoughts you have regarding the big bad of Dragon Age 4.
Comments