Christina Giallombardo
Dragon Age has to be my favourite video game series of all time. It has everything you could ask for: diverse origin stories, character customisation, fascinating lore and intense storylines. Despite the next instalment currently having no release date, Christina outlines her hopes for the next title in this incredible series (Dragon Age:4)!
Warning: This article contains minor spoilers for the Dragon Age series.
Dorian Pavus makes a comeback
Dorian Pavus is a companion you meet and can take alongside you in your adventures during the third instalment of the series, Dragon Age: Inquisition (DA: I). Not only does he have a hilarious and witty personality (and a great moustache), he’s also a kickass mage with an intriguing (and tragic) backstory. The next game is likely to be set in the Tevinter Imperium, a region of Thedas that is unchartered thus far and has a very different culture than Fereldan and Orlais, the regions where the trilogy is based.
the city of Tevinter has been hyped up throughout the trilogy, so there’s a lot to live up to
Dorian is from Tevinter, and although he leaves his homeland to join the Inquisitor’s side in slaying archdemons and monsters, he returns to Tevinter at the end of Inquisition’s DCL Trespasser. I hope that as we adventure with a new hero into this foreign land, we’ll see a familiar face along the way.
Tevinter isn’t Kirkwall 2.0
Dragon Age: II (DA: II), the series second edition, is set in Kirkwall – a coastal city located in the Free Marches known as The City of Chains. Let’s just say DA: II isn’t my favourite game in the trilogy for many reasons, but one of them is the boring and repetitive locations. They all looked the same, areas were reused several times, and why is everything so brown?
It made adventuring very boring, unlike in DA: I, which had many diverse and stunning locations. And no, the graphics of the time cannot be used as an excuse for the sloppy map creation. I hope Tevinter is as fleshed out as locations in DA: I, with each area looking completely different and with many things to do in every place. The city of Tevinter has been hyped up throughout the trilogy, so there’s a lot to live up to.
The return of origin stories
Dragon Age: Origins (DA: O), the first game in the series, is my favourite. Not only did it have an epic storyline that got me hooked from the very start, one of its defining features is the origin stories. Each race and class have their own origin story, that all converge to the same storyline when you arrive at the Grey Warden camp in Ostagar at the beginning of the game.
It’s great for adding some spice and incentive to restart the game.
Not only did it mean replaying the game was fun (as you could explore how the different races and classes ended up at Ostagar), but it also had an impact on the rest of the game. If you played as a mage and began your quest in the Circle of Magi, you meet a fellow mage named Jowan, who you might meet later in the story… If you play as a Dwarf Noble, you’ll have ties to the city of Orzammar, a location you’ll return to.
I hope that the next Dragon Age title has origin stories, a feature omitted from DA: II and DA: I. It’s great for adding some spice and incentive to restart the game once you beat it, and it’s also great for character building.
It’s the little things that count
During each game, you make decisions that not only change the outcome of the game but also have repercussions for the following games. The changes aren’t major as the main storyline will be the same, but a few details will be different.
It’s like finding an Easter egg when you see something in DA: I that happened as a result of the decisions you made in DA: II and DA: O. I hope they continue to do this in DA: 4, with the decisions made in the previous games having a big impact on the next game.
The story continues…
The storylines of all three games so far have been connected. You play as the Hero of Ferelden in DA: O, who is trying to end the Fifth Blight and save the world. The same blight causes Hawke, the hero of DA: II, to flee to Kirkwall from Ferelden. A DLC in DA: II unleashes evil on the world that the Inquisitor in DA: I had to defeat.
I definitely can’t wait to see what DA: 4 has in store!
The Trespasser DLC in DA: I ended with a massive cliff-hanger that has set up the future villain for DA: 4. I hope we can see this storyline continue in the next instalment and maybe even have a few cameos from our previous protagonists and favourite companions.
With the last game being released in 2014, there’s a lot of hype centred around the next instalment. I hope Bioware reflect on what worked and didn’t work in previous games and make the next one the best of them all. I definitely can’t wait to see what DA: 4 has in store! Whilst I wait, I might restart a playthrough of the trilogy. After all, I’ve never tried the Dwarven origin stories before…
Christina Giallombardo
Featured Image courtesy of Avalon via Flickr. Image license found here. No changes were made to this image.
In-article videos courtesy of IGN and Ghil Dirthalen via @youtube.com. No changes were made to these videos.
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