In the midst of this current Dragon Age drought, if you needed a reason or two to be reminded why we’re all in for an exciting time with Dragon Age 4, keep watching this video. Y’see, I get asked all the time: Why am I excited for Dragon Age 4? What keeps me going? How can I still be excited? Well, there’s no time like the present, So, today I figured I’d explore many many reasons why I’m excited for the next Dragon Age.
Team:
First of all, I’m excited for Dragon Age 4 because of the amazing team who are behind the game’s development, as showcased with Dragon Age: Inquisition, and more relevant, the Trespasser DLC. The current Dragon Age team know how to make a fantastic, hard-hitting piece of media that still stands with many of us today. What’s even more thrilling and palpable is the fact that the Dragon Age team are excited for the next Dragon Age. Throughout the game’s development cycle, so many devs have shared their enthusiasm for Dragon Age 4.
From the beginning, John Epler shared that the team believes they will make a game that does right by the franchise.
Former Creative Director Matthew Goldman believed that the next Dragon Age was their most epic quest yet.
Art Director Matt Rhodes shared that he’s more excited about working on Dragon Age 4 than any other project he’s worked on so far.
Lead Producer Scylla Costa said that they feel like the team have the opportunity to launch the best story with Dragon Age 4, and that the characters are amazing.
And this is something that has been seen over and over again, the Dragon Age team are excited about the project they’re working on, and they’re even more excited to show things off when the time is right.
Patrick Weekes:
Karin Weekes:
John Epler:
Chelsea Fariello:
Presley Hynes:
Jos Hendricks:
Corinne Busche:
Christian Dailey:
All in all, if the developers are excited, I think that’s a good reason to be excited. Let’s keep this excitement going though.
Development Updates:
One of, if not the most exciting updates on Dragon Age 4 so far has been the single-player pivot in development. As reported, the next Dragon Age was originally designed with a heavy multiplayer component, however, it has since transformed into a single-player-only game after EA was stung by a recent multiplayer flop.
Henceforth, the next Dragon Age is going to be an exclusively single-player experience. It’s weird to get excited about this because that’s something that we all fundamentally expected for the game, the fact that it once was designed to be a heavily multiplayer experience is just a weird concept for a lot of us. But I think I’m more excited by this update because it showed that many high up developers cared about the vast majority of Dragon Age’s audience to do something about that.
They confronted the executives in charge and we’re able to change the cogs on Dragon Age 4’s multiplayer development, this is something that fortunately we’ll never witness and will remain thankful that this live service Dragon Age game never came to be. We’re in the blessed timeline and can only remain thankful that the developers do care about us fans enough to alter the course of development.
Another exciting element, BioWare’s developments and advancements with the Frostbite engine since Inquisition have significantly improved from Anthem’s flying mechanics to Andromeda’s dual protagonist element, there are many technical improvements the studio have made that may be in store for the next Dragon Age. cough, like maybe flying on a Griffon? Cough.
Also regarding Frostbite, BioWare built a completely new workflow when developing Dragon Age 4’s previous iteration known as ‘Joplin’, the developers already had many Frostbite tools and production pipelines in place after Inquisition, they hoped to improve and continue using these tools for the new project.
The plan for Joplin was exciting, say people who worked on it. First and foremost, they already had many tools and production pipelines in place after Inquisition, ones that they hoped to improve and continue using for this new project. They committed to prototyping ideas early and often, testing as quickly as possible rather than waiting until everything was on fire, as they had done the last time thanks to the glut of people and Frostbite’s difficulties. (The Past And Present Of Dragon Age, Kotaku).
The teams committed to prototyping ideas early and often, testing as quickly as possible rather than waiting until everything was on fire, as they had done the last time thanks to the glut of people and Frostbite’s difficulties. The developers were very eager to work on this project, and they had the right tools ahead of its development to tackle the Frostbite engine. They were ready for any challenge, and the Edmonton team had grown accustom to Frostbite, having created Dragon Age: Inquisition. They had the framework ready for ‘Joplin’, so any problem could have an immediate fix.
While ‘Joplin’ was canned, for a new iteration that has also since been reworked, ‘Joplin’s’ production pipelines and tools for the next Dragon Age will remain. The team are not recreating Dragon Age 4 from scratch like they did with Andromeda and Anthem. This time around they have an established tool kit and pipeline ahead of them - which can only mean good things.
In a similar direction to this one, BioWare and EA are taking their time with the development of Dragon Age 4 in its production stages. Anthem and Andromeda were stuck in pre-production hell for many years.
“By the time BioWare entered pre-production on Mass Effect: Andromeda, the Dragon Age: Inquisition team had built some of the tools that they’d need to make an RPG, but not all of them. Engineers on Andromeda had to design many of their own features from scratch, including their animation rig.” (The Story Behind Mass Effect: Andromeda's Troubled Five-Year Development, Kotaku).
In the same boat as that too, BioWare have listened to feedback on Inquisition. The developers are aware of the flaws of Inquisition like its long open worlds with fetch quests. Showcasing that maybe the next Dragon Age won’t have massive worlds with little to do, but more places built out of multiple non-contiguous spaces.
As a small one, I’m excited to experience Dragon Age 4 as a next-gen experience utilising the best of modern consoles and PCs offering a beautiful world space and stellar gameplay.
Story:
Tevinter Nights, the Dragon Age Day short stories and Dragon Age 4’s concept art have all hinted at many plot points for the next game. Here’s a list of the top ones I’ve noticed:
The Executors
Ghilinan’s Creations, Pre-Veil Monsters, Demons and The Dread Wolf
Dwarven Thaigs and The Deep Roads
The Grey Wardens, The Anderfels & Fortress Weisshaupt
The Tevinter Imperium
The Ancient Elves and Elven Gods
Antiva and The Antivan Crows
The Lords of Fortune
Nevarra City, The Mortalitasi and The Grand Necropolis
The Blight and Red Lyrium
The Qunari
New Characters
So, so many potential plots to be excited about!
In my Everything We Know About Dragon Age 4 So Far (2020) video, I summarised each of the Dragon Age 4 plot synopsis’s and came up with this:
The next Dragon Age will feature a new hero. Someone Solas will never suspect. Many striking, courageous characters ranging from Humans, Elves, Dwarves and Qunari will join our tumultuous journey where every decision we make echoes across history.
Rich storytelling, powerful magic, treacherous labyrinths and glittering cities abound. The Dragon Age is a time of warring nations, savage combat, and secret magics. Friendship, drama, and romance are pillars of this adventure. Our new hero will travel to Tevinter, Antiva and many other new locations.
As many factions fight by our side, the Evil Gods have Thedas in their sights, and only heroes can stop them. The shadows of the past stir, demons, dragons, darkspawn, even the Dread Wolf stand in our way as the fate of this world teeters on a knife's edge.
Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights hinted at the next game’s tone, being a return to dark fantasy. This was showcased throughout the novel with its many morbid themes and plot points, from evil twisted /insectoid monstrosities, demon-worshipping cults, ancient wicked beings, (“Cekorax”), death and blood magic, murder machinations, eldritch horrors, domestic abuse, inhumane treatment, ghastly apparitions, demonic possession, and plenty more hard-hitting themes that are paving the way for Dragon Age 4’s story.
Patrick Weekes said, “For the game we’re working on now, we want to tell a story – what happens when you don’t have power, what happens when the people in charge aren’t willing to address the issues.”
Sources:
The Past and Present of Dragon Age:
BioWare Plans A Complete Overhaul For Anthem:
How BioWare's Anthem Went Wrong:
The Story Behind Mass Effect: Andromeda's Troubled Five-Year Development: