BioWare is relying on the success of Dragon Age 4 to overcome some recent disappointments the studio has suffered, despite being one of the most acclaimed developers in the RPG genre. Between Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem, BioWare has lost some of their reputation for reliability over the last few years, making Dragon Age one of their most important IPs to maintain after the relative success of Inquisition.
Inquisition had flaws, however, that Dragon Age 4 needs to learn from. The next game should take one key feature from Dragon Age: Origins that was not included in Inquisition, which, combined with one feature Inquisition added to the game, could help give the next Dragon Age the success it needs to stick the landing on the next generation of consoles.
Dragon Age: Inquisition gave players the greatest breadth of races to play as in a Dragon Age game, introducing the Qunari alongside the humans, elves, and dwarves present and playable in Dragon Age: Origins. However, while the game gave players more options when it came to their race, it provided the players with far fewer roleplaying opportunities related to their background.
No matter who the Inquisitor is in Inquisition, the player character has the exact same introduction to the world, and their personal origins are left to the side. In Dragon Age: Origins there are different race and class-based origins depending on the player’s choices that explain how they came to be a Grey Warden at the Battle of Ostagar, which kicks of the main events of the story. Inquisition essentially opens at the same point in the story arc as that battle, but does not take the time to set the stage or explore the world beforehand.
With Dragon Age 4 likely set in the never-before visited land of Tevinter, it will be important that players have context for their characters and their place in the world before they begin to roleplay if BioWare wants to avoid creating dissonance between how the player sees their character and how they are seen in the world.
In Inquisition, for example, the player can play as a Qunari mage, but they are provided with very little context for just how intense of a position in society that is, with almost all other Qunari mages forced into muzzles and shackles, their tongues cut out to stop them corrupting others. With new locations and new classes like dwarf mages potentially on the table, the player will need context to roleplay with confidence in Dragon Age 4.
With the next game set in an entirely new country to previous games, Dragon Age 4 needs to establish things about the player character’s life through some prologue quests. While some fans may feel this risks slowing down the action, RPGs don’t operate by the same rules as movies, and Dragon Age: Origins shows how immersive it can be to spend some time with the player character during their normal life before the events of the main quest kick off in order to fully understand who the player is roleplaying as.
Dragon Age: Inquisition gave the player character a choice of origins, but without being able to play through any of the backstory the Inquisitor felt far flatter, even as a blank slate character, than the Warden. Origins in Dragon Age 4 could include dwarf mages gaining magic via the Titans, elves living with the consequences of the Dread Wolf’s return, or Qunari arriving on the continent from their homeland.
A human noble Inquisitor is established to be part of the Trevelyan family, but that has nowhere near the emotional impact as the player choosing a human noble Warden in Origins and losing their family, or playing as a dwarf noble and being robbed of their birthright. If Dragon Age 4 gives players a moment to get to know their character and their culture before the action kicks off, the game could help bring the series back to its former heights.
Dragon Age 4 is in development.
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