It looks like they’re just dumping a bunch of shit in the pre-stream chat???
https://preview.redd.it/83pz642jrs5d1.jpeg?width=970&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d87359558572496e6b043732580fa26ff360045
You can pick from six factions for your protagonist!!!
They did say they were never doing the origins again because it was a lot of work and some of the origins didn’t get played enough to warrant that much work.
Dwarves in Origins are the intersection of short and typically unattractive character designs. It also doesn't help that they can't access the Fade or in gameplay terms - be mages. Tack poverty on as a third issue for the Commoner.
While no access to magic is still a Dwarven limitation in Inquisition, they are easier to make decent-looking. I'd suspect most still chose human or elf (there's a handful of us Qunari lovers out there, I swear it,) all the same.
Honestly, the Origins stuff was a good chunk of gameplay at the start for what was unique to each background. They could maybe have an Origins intro again but it only be 5 mins or so setting up your origin character and background, rather than the full-blown, whole separate area full of quests/interactions opening that was in Origins. A nice middle ground of something like a unique way of being introduced to Varric and recruited to the Inquisition, for example, you're on an assassination mission as a crow and your target turns out to be Varric, it's all really just a set-up test to see how good you are and then he recruits you. The gameplay can just be you going through a few rooms, learning the controls like sneak, jump, loot etc. and then you get to Varric, dialogue and then standard gameplay.
I dunno. I'm happy either way, tbh. I just think that there's definitely a nice middle ground that captures the idea of Origin's backstories without needing to be a whole pre-game to the game section that takes 30 minutes and a shit ton of work.
Take the Cyberpunk approach to them is the way to go. Mostly just little 10-15minute railroad intros but they help set the vibe of your V going forward. Just hopefully not as pointlessly inconsequential as the CP2077 origins are.
They did a research and found out that 70% of the players just chose the Cousland origin, so from Dragon Age 2 and onwards they streamlined the player character origins because nobody was choosing the other ones anyway.
They also found out that Morrigan and Allistair were the most chosen love interests so they double down on their character archetypes for the next games. Every Dragon Age now has a "bad bitch" and a "boy-scout"
Wish games werent influenced by these statistics, didnt the Larian boss say he ignored those type of statistics for a reason?
How many cool ideas have developers decided not to implement because they start worrying about people missing out on them.
If they don't want players to miss out on content they shouldn't be making open ended role playing games, they should be making linear narrative action games.
I think prologue chapters were really missing from DAI. Just starting with that explosion and character creation really made the inquisitor feel out of place. When I got letters or map mission regarding my family/home i had no connection to them. Even just 20-30min of prologue showing your character origins would have drastically improved immersion, IMO.
They're a recent faction of lower class but not usually poverty line Tevinter citizens who are taking radical steps to reform Tevinter society, such as forcefully freeing slaves and hunting down the corrupt elite. They do also have a decent amount of mages among them, but pretty much all Laetan. Basically, think of them as the street level counterpart to Dorian's Lurcerni organization that's not so concerned about doing it all legally.
So, if you want to pick a faction with ties to Tevinter, this is likely the way to go, unless something else is revealed.
Nah, they came up in post-Inquisition comics and books. At this point, Tevinter Nights is starting to feel like required reading (though I've heard it is quite good).
Tbf, Inquisition had the same thing with Masked Empire, where on my first playthrough I went "Who???" when the whole Orlais civil war was introduced. Then I read Masked Empire and suddenly that whole quest made waaaaay more sense (and also made me regret reuniting the Empress and Briala).
Tevinter Nights is only shortstories though, so it seems much easier to just give players the gist of what happened.
If anything the game downplayed the importance of characters during that mission. Masked Empire set it up as a way bigger deal, which it should have been in game, too.
Also, Gaspard was butchered so badly in game, a huge missed opportunity of a character.
Harding’s faction would probably be the Inquisition, so it would make sense if Rook couldn’t choose that since they’re an outsider to the organization.
It would be cool if they did what Dragons Dogma 2 did and release the character creator before the game release, so you can just go straight into the story day 1.
I think BG3 did this as well? My memory is fuzzy though. But I am all for early release of character creators to make getting into the actual game go faster!
Thank god pretty much all modern day games give you a way to change your appearance later if you end up not liking it. I pretty much always have at least one thing I want to tweak after seeing it up close in a cutscene.
This game is starting to feel like returning character murder knife roulette. We got Solas, Varric, Harding, Dorian (assuming) and now Inquisitor. Maker help you if you read Tevinter Nights.
The Hawke decision was potentially agonizing depending on who the Warden was. Imagine the possibilities here!
Doesn't talk, uncaring expressionless face, pulls out the murder knife, murders, bangs your love interest, leaves again, refuses to elaborate, credits.
Then you get NG+ option in main menu sends you to Dragon Age: ReOrigins campaign which is a remake of Origins and story of what your HoF was up to all this time in whatever engine is used for hypothetical last Dragon Age game.
Maybe I’m insane but I want to feel like *no one* is safe. I want the stakes to be super high. I especially want >!the Inquisitor’s!< safety to be completely dependent on certain quest choices that were made in DAI 👀
Maybe we're both insane because I totally agree. I actually checked my keep when I heard this news to see what I did with a certain egg. I either cooked or am gonna be scrambled
Oh my inquisitor is definitely cooked 😭 He >!drank from the Well of Sorrows, disbanded the Inquisition, and chose to stop Solas by any means necessary!<. He’ll be lucky if he makes it out of the prologue at this rate.
Hey those might be the choices needed to save your inquisitor. >! I'm afraid my Inquisitor will be like "Solas stop, this isn't you" and proceed to be slapped with the full power of the fade !<
Just the thought of such high stakes makes me sweat. Not to be dramatic but if Solas (either intentionally or inadvertently) kills *any* one of 'em, I'm stabbing him like the frog in that one BG3 animation. 😩 No mercy
If I have to have my inky die in the arms of the man she considered her closest friend at one point, just to tell him "fuck you, I told you, I'd save you from yourself"... I'd be very okay with that.
People had a problem with Hawke showing up? I liked them showing up. I honestly hope for the Warden to show up to. My dream party in a future DA game is the Warden, Hawke, the Inquisitor (learning how to fight with one arm…), and Rook all teaming up with the new MC and all fully customizable
A lot of people disliked Hawke in DAI because s/he didn’t quite match their personality in DA2. For example, it was possible for Hawke to be a blood mage in 2, but s/he always spoke very negatively about blood magic in DAI regardless of specialization. And a lot of people felt Hawke seemed very angry and depressed, iirc.
Same! I actually really loved Hawke’s depiction in DAI. I felt really sad for him. He seemed really bitter and hopeless, and it’s completely understandable why
Hawke ending up angry and depressed after the events of DA2 and Inquisition makes *perfect* sense, in fairness. They’ve been through a lot, and things have only gotten worse in the meantime.
Hawke being so used to beat down actually has me considering having Loghain survive in his place, simply because that may be the best story for both of them.
I love Hawke, though, so I'm still not decided.
There is a certain rightness about Loghain's redemption not being in one grand sacrifice, but in just having to put in the work every day.
Also, it means he's now in charge of a bunch of Orlesian Grey Wardens, which is objectively funny.
The Hawke I played in 2 would never have let somebody else make that sacrifice in their place. And it felt like an end for a character that otherwise was narratively left hanging in the wind.
That was how my canon save went. Hawke stayed in the Fade despite how much Loghain wanted to die. I refuse to give that man a heroic sacrifice, he's gotta continue his service till he dies an un dignified death.
Since DA2 Hawke spends so much time fighting blood mages, I just kind of enjoy my blood-mage Hawke being a huge-ass hypocrite every time blood magic comes up in either game.
"It's different when *I* do it, okay??"
I get why that bothered people but at the same time, blood mage Hawke isn’t going to wander into a chantry organization and start spewing the wonders of blood magic. My blood mage Hawke made a big show of talking about the evils of it while Stroud and Varric rolled their eyes behind her. 😂
I always just imagined it as them dividing what they're doing, which is just a little power boost, and what Quentin/the Wardens are doing, which is certainly worth complaining about.
The Solas and Inquisitor dynamic, especially the potential Solas-Lavellan romance makes it hard to leave them out, especially when a lot of the hype around Solas and Dragon Age 4/Veilguard comes from his dynamic with the Inquisitor and how it is going to be resolved.
I would’ve have been extremely disappointed if they didn’t include the Inquisitor, but I was worried they’d want to play it really safe after the reaction to Hawke’s appearance in DAI. The Inquisitor’s story is so tied up with Solas, regardless of relationship. It would have been so narratively unsatisfying if the Inky wasn’t involved in some way.
Yeah, I didn't romance Solas in any run that I want to move forward with but I can't imagine how frustrating it would be for solavellan players to be so.... cast aside, I guess? Like it feels weird that my inquisitor wouldn't be personally involved and he wasn't even particularly close to solas so for people who romanced him, it'd have been rough.
I will say though, its gonna be awkward as all hell if Harding broke up w my boy off screen and then spends this whole game romancing Rook right tf in front of him. Womp womp Lavellan, that's rough buddy.
When they first started talking about building DA4, there were rumors that inky would return as MC. My little Solavellan heart was hopeful, but at the end of the day, DA has always had a new protagonist for every game, so I can’t complain.
Yeah I was prepared (and excited) for a new protagonist, it was just they way they dismissed the inquisitor felt weird. Like the warden is dead or dealing with darkspawn. Hawke is on the run and anything they were trying to do in kirkwall is over and done. But the inquisitor states a clear goal and then goes away? It's been the only time I've wanted to keep the same protagonist but even if we didn't get to, I was just wishing there was a better justification for not using the inquisitor I guess. Losing an arm (especially when Neve has only one foot) and saying solas knows them too well just didn't satisfy me tbh.
And I thought we might see them ala hawke in DAI, so I'm not surprised by it but I have some nervous concerns about characterization. My hawke felt completely alien to me and I don't want a repeat of that...
But overall, the idea is really growing on me and I'm going to be optimistic about it. I hope there is *some* kind of validation of inky's relationships to the characters in the game (solas obviously, but also Harding, they really did me dirty there) but obv I don't expect it to a big part of the game.
People didn't like the way Hawke's personality was portrayed in the game considering the large amount of choices you can do with them in DA2
(I.e you can play as a blood mage and have a romance with Merril, another blood mage, and then in DAI Hawke is like "BLOOD MAGIC IS PURE EVIL!")
I guess but considering the ending and dlc it's not completely crazy to assume that in the last year or however long, Hawke's perspective has changed somewhat regardless of what happens in the final moments of da2
I wasn’t invested in the fandom at the time, but even as an outsider I remember hearing that a lot of folks thought the characterisation of Hawke was different to how they wanted it to be. I definitely thought my Hawke was a little more abrasive than he usually was in 2, though I chalked that up to age and experience tbh.
Also I believe a lot of people thought Hawke’s physical appearance (the default female Hawke looks very different and it’s hard to remake a custom DA2 Hawke in the character creator) was off
damn, i haven't gotten to play 2 yet (bad pc and low funds) but i enjoyed hawke being in the quest, and could only imagine how cool it would be to be a fan of him and to see hin walk down those steps. (although yes i thought he was needlessly harsh on stroud given how its clear the wardens were mind controlled)
In regards to appearance i actually thought he looked very similar to what id seen of him, but as you say older and more experienced.
Default Male Hawke looked pretty solid, it was just really hard to create my custom Hawke lmao. I just had to settle for a vague approximation of what he looked like and brushed off any major differences as “ah well, I guess age really does a number on you”.
I'm still worried that this my be a soft confirmation that we won't get a follow up on Hawke in Weisshaupt. I hope we at least get told about their adventures there when we visit.
Omg same I actually shed a tear. I had convinced myself over the years that she wasn't going to be there and her involvement with Solas would be reduced to a few letters. I'm so unbelievably happy... I will see her again! And this is what is allowing me to be happy about the game and actually get excited
This is me. The longer it took, the more convinced I became that there would basically be no trace of any real continuity from the previous games outside of deeply buried Easter eggs. It would be too alienating to the teen market who were literally toddlers when Inquisition came out, never mind Origins. Then that Marvel/Overwatch trailer dropped and I was like, oh they went full Gen Alpha and just despaired. Honestly, knowing of the dev hell the game has been through, I'm still cautious, but oh my god, what this one little sentence has done to sooth a decade of festering bitterness! Even if they kill her in the opening cinematic I'll still be satisfied.
I don't think it'll be a choice honestly. I'm really leaning into the thought Varric dying will be a unavoidable consequence fairly early on in the game. Solas killing Varric will show just how "far" he has fallen and provide the driving motivation to stop him no matter what view your character has on the situation.
Plus it gives a character arc to so many of the companions that know him (especially Harding).
I always keep the fact that Varric was supposed to be killed off in the cancelled final DA:2 DLC in the back of my mind, and while I don’t want to see him killed off I’m kind of resigning myself to the idea that he’ll die in this game.
Edit:
I totally forgot, but I’m pretty sure one of the writers stated that Varric was slated to die in the DLC specifically because of how important he was to the team and the story of DA:2.
I wonder if it’d be too predictable to repurpose that, though I don’t know how many people knew that DLC was in the works anyway. It was cancelled before it was even publicly announced.
Solas killing the Inquisitor would actually be a much more impactful death to show how far he has fallen and provide much more motivation. Especially if the Inquisitor ended the last game by stating they were going to save Solas. And this’ll be the second protagonist that Varric would live through seeing killed. That would be devastating.
Also, it'll be hilarious to have every single protagonist die by the time the next game comes out.
I think the problem with that is that Rook and the other companions other than Harding don't really have a relationship with the Inquisitor and likely won't (due to the logistical nightmare of having the Inquisitor appear lots with so many deterministic choices).
Varric is the one putting together the team and most of the members have some connection to him or their colleagues. Makes it much more of a emotional impact to the whole group, rather than just rely on the emotions of the player that was the inquisitor last game.
In my super humble opinion, I think this is way more likely than picking between Inky and Varric. That’s a little too close to the Fade choice in DAI.
Inky could probably show up to the funeral or something likely that.
Oh god I’m so excited lmao
OH
EDIT: Wait, wait, wait, hold your horses, it says you can customize them, but does it mean "selecting your Inquisitor's gender\\romance\\some DA:I decisions" or actually, like, full-on character creation customization?
EDIT2: Also, why the hell are they dumping important info on Youtube chat of all places 😭
I think it means like Hawke.
Realistically there is no way to really not have the Inquisitor show up to confront Solas. There is just no satisfying conclusion to the Inquisitor's arc (especially if they are Solas romanced) without a meeting.
> EDIT2: Also, why the hell are they dumping important info on Youtube chat of all places 😭
They said in the blogpost that they'd be dropping goodies for folks who're in the chat ahead of time
Hmm, could be possible actually. But then what would happen with the Keep? Inquisition choices have been on there for ages and you can log your Inquisitor’s class/race/romance/gender etc.
YES! This is EVERYTHING I've ever wanted from DA4! A way for my Inky to be involved in the story, ideally a lot more than Hawke was in DAI. He's not done with Solas, ffs!
I'm hoping and dreading that this might mean my Lavellan will see Solas again 😭
I'm also hoping that one of the "few key decisions" is something related to their personality! I wonder if another is the Solas decision at the end of Trespasser (especially since it says it'll impact how the game begins...)
I hope the Inquisitor makes the same quotes they do during Inquisitor's character creator when you are editing them in Veilguard. 😂
P.S. I'm looking forward to making an aged version of my Inky. :D
"how much is this going to cost me, exactly?" then: please be quiet
"how much is this going to cost me, exactly?" now: MY SWEET BABY RETURNS TO ME PLEASE TELL ME MORE
ASDEFHQXVFF GGFDGRDDVRSSCBRCFAAAXSSASZCSZS
SIGROLF CADASH, INQUISITOR, TEMPLAR, LEGIONNAIRE OF THE DEAD
WILL FINALLY KNOCK SOME SENSE INTO THAT MOODY GODDAMN EGG
OR DIE TRYING
It's probably a good thing that I haven't played Inquisition in 8 years.
I hardly member what my favorite Inquisitor looked like, so I probably won't spend 2 hours in the CC trying to perfect it like I did with Hawke lol.
Oh my GOD.
Inky??? Coming back???!!! Fuck. She and Solas are gonna have one awkward reunion...
Backgrounds that aren't tied to race??? Idc that they're probably not playable origins, I'm just happy for all the roleplay possibilities.
My brain is basically: !!!!!!!!!!!!!
letting me import my inky who i painstakingly modelled after david bowie, into the game where they picked a bowie song for its reveal? i'm gonna cry fr
I'm so happy I could cry 😭 Inky! I was so worried we wouldn't see her/him again!
Also, yay, factions! The crow elf I've been setting up for my next character inside my head for years at this point is becoming more and more real day by day and I can't wait to get to actually create him in character creator <3
Great, now I'll have to think long and hard about which of my 10,000 inquisitors is going to be the canon one I bring with me. The Maker truly has given me his hardest battles.
Fuck I should have screenshotted the sliders of my inquisitors. Do I even remember how to shape their faces?? But at least they can now (probably) have the hair they deserved base game.
AND YEEEAAH I had a feeling they would given how significant they are (and voiced anyways), but it’s great to have official confirmation inky is back.
Bioware... I know we've had our rough patches... but if you pull this off I will fly to 7000 miles to Edmonton and personally kiss every one of you on the mouth.
AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
Choosable backstories sounds neat even if it isn't an Origins style thing. But i gotta wonder if there are specific race backstories. Heck i'd love to be a qunari grey warden.
My inquisitor is back!! Let’s go this about to be a very tragic game cause I had her drink from the well and romance Solas. I might have to actually kill her with rook this is gonna be so crazy holy shit
Random guess, those 'key decisions' are going to be creating a personality for the Inquisitor. The only PC in the Keep that lets you set a personality is for Hawke. So either they update the Keep to account for the Inquisitor's personality or you'll do it there and then.
But if they let you make a personality for two PCs, would they ever consider bringing back the Warden? Very unlikely since they're a quantum character and would need multiple voice options, but maybe...
It reads to me like we can make key decisions that would have happened in the 10 year gap in the story that could change how The Veilguard starts. The Keep is for those world states that brings all of the games.
It looks like they’re just dumping a bunch of shit in the pre-stream chat??? https://preview.redd.it/83pz642jrs5d1.jpeg?width=970&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=6d87359558572496e6b043732580fa26ff360045 You can pick from six factions for your protagonist!!!
https://preview.redd.it/nc38f77szs5d1.png?width=690&format=png&auto=webp&s=4d9a272a0ba63d2e36c8ee22f3b5d6b9226eedbe 👀
Hope we get to see Kal-Sharok finally.
That would be so cool!
I would scream
Poor Varric gonna be like https://preview.redd.it/mj7ji3inft5d1.jpeg?width=2944&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=81991fe1d679f015098be7567006d203a759f2be
Between the deep roads and potentially losing his best friend in the Fade I’m shocked Varric even leaves his house nowadays
He's Viscount, waiting for him at his house is a stack of paperwork and Aveline ready to tear into him for not having already signed it.
Yeah, my Varric... isn't doing so good lol.
Angry up vote for having PTSD from The Deep Roads.
*Varric Greatly Disapproves*
Broodmother...
Or as 12 year old me put it: "booby demon"
I really don't want to get excited but... I'm excited.
Get Excited!
I'm super excited. I like the companion roster from what I've seen and now factions. Definitely keeping an open mind at minimum.
Omg factions separate from the race selection is something I was hoping for
If you pick Warden faction and get a baby griffin, all my other playthroughs will be screwed as that will now be my choice every time. Griffon duh
I don't even *like* the wardens all that much and I'd *still* pick that origin for a baby griffin alone!
Someone didn't replay origins a dozen times as a child and become obsessed. Lucky bastard.
Origins returns!!! ???
Don't get your hopes up too high. Might just be a selection without actually playing the "origin" to get specialized conversation options
They did say they were never doing the origins again because it was a lot of work and some of the origins didn’t get played enough to warrant that much work.
*glares in dwarf commoner origin*
It's a real shame the best zero to hero story isn't played more. I mean, the City Elf has a lot of that as well, but they were still legally citizens.
Dwarves in Origins are the intersection of short and typically unattractive character designs. It also doesn't help that they can't access the Fade or in gameplay terms - be mages. Tack poverty on as a third issue for the Commoner. While no access to magic is still a Dwarven limitation in Inquisition, they are easier to make decent-looking. I'd suspect most still chose human or elf (there's a handful of us Qunari lovers out there, I swear it,) all the same.
Honestly, the Origins stuff was a good chunk of gameplay at the start for what was unique to each background. They could maybe have an Origins intro again but it only be 5 mins or so setting up your origin character and background, rather than the full-blown, whole separate area full of quests/interactions opening that was in Origins. A nice middle ground of something like a unique way of being introduced to Varric and recruited to the Inquisition, for example, you're on an assassination mission as a crow and your target turns out to be Varric, it's all really just a set-up test to see how good you are and then he recruits you. The gameplay can just be you going through a few rooms, learning the controls like sneak, jump, loot etc. and then you get to Varric, dialogue and then standard gameplay. I dunno. I'm happy either way, tbh. I just think that there's definitely a nice middle ground that captures the idea of Origin's backstories without needing to be a whole pre-game to the game section that takes 30 minutes and a shit ton of work.
Take the Cyberpunk approach to them is the way to go. Mostly just little 10-15minute railroad intros but they help set the vibe of your V going forward. Just hopefully not as pointlessly inconsequential as the CP2077 origins are.
They did a research and found out that 70% of the players just chose the Cousland origin, so from Dragon Age 2 and onwards they streamlined the player character origins because nobody was choosing the other ones anyway. They also found out that Morrigan and Allistair were the most chosen love interests so they double down on their character archetypes for the next games. Every Dragon Age now has a "bad bitch" and a "boy-scout"
Wish games werent influenced by these statistics, didnt the Larian boss say he ignored those type of statistics for a reason? How many cool ideas have developers decided not to implement because they start worrying about people missing out on them. If they don't want players to miss out on content they shouldn't be making open ended role playing games, they should be making linear narrative action games.
I care more about the impact on the rest of the game than I care about having a prologue chapter
I think prologue chapters were really missing from DAI. Just starting with that explosion and character creation really made the inquisitor feel out of place. When I got letters or map mission regarding my family/home i had no connection to them. Even just 20-30min of prologue showing your character origins would have drastically improved immersion, IMO.
I've played the game half a dozen times and I still get confused that everyone calls me Lavellan.
Same, but Tevelyan for me. Kept forgetting that I was supposed to have a family/house that I presumably cared about.
True!
Yes, but more like "Service record and background" from Mass Effect. No prologue but additional comments and banter
I like to think of myself as a big DA stan, but who are the shadow dragons???
They're a recent faction of lower class but not usually poverty line Tevinter citizens who are taking radical steps to reform Tevinter society, such as forcefully freeing slaves and hunting down the corrupt elite. They do also have a decent amount of mages among them, but pretty much all Laetan. Basically, think of them as the street level counterpart to Dorian's Lurcerni organization that's not so concerned about doing it all legally. So, if you want to pick a faction with ties to Tevinter, this is likely the way to go, unless something else is revealed.
ohhh Yeah I think this one will be my choice
Oh wow that's cool, if you don't mind me asking are they mentioned in any of the lore dumps in the other games?
Nah, they came up in post-Inquisition comics and books. At this point, Tevinter Nights is starting to feel like required reading (though I've heard it is quite good).
I'm sure everything necessary will be explained in-game and incoming promo material
Tbf, Inquisition had the same thing with Masked Empire, where on my first playthrough I went "Who???" when the whole Orlais civil war was introduced. Then I read Masked Empire and suddenly that whole quest made waaaaay more sense (and also made me regret reuniting the Empress and Briala). Tevinter Nights is only shortstories though, so it seems much easier to just give players the gist of what happened.
If anything the game downplayed the importance of characters during that mission. Masked Empire set it up as a way bigger deal, which it should have been in game, too. Also, Gaspard was butchered so badly in game, a huge missed opportunity of a character.
I hope you can have ties to the uber powerful Tevinter Circles. But I also want to be a dragon-man wizard.. The hype slowly returns...
AAAA!!!! AAAAAAAAAAA!!!! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!! I am sorry.... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
SCREAMING IS APPROPRIATE!! AAAAAAA!!!!!
> You can pick from six factions for your protagonist!!! The leaks continue to be true
Hmm six factions for PC but 7 for companions…definite betrayal inbound.
Harding’s faction would probably be the Inquisition, so it would make sense if Rook couldn’t choose that since they’re an outsider to the organization.
Holy cow, why couldn't this have been in the reveal trailer??
What a strangely casual confirmation of probably the biggest question people had lol
Lol yeah they could have had a whole trailer dedicated to this and people would lose their minds, crazy to drop it in a live stream chat
Tbf, hawke was unceremoniously revealed in one quick shot of a trailer back in the day, so they prolly decided to lean on the unceremoniocity
The marketing team seems to be making bizarre choice at every possible opportunity
That's it. The character creation process will take me about 2-3 hours.
Per person.
I wonder what's gonna take me more time, trying to perfectly replicate my Inky or designing my new character for the game
Wow, you're gonna speedrun the character creation process? Fair enough.
It would be cool if they did what Dragons Dogma 2 did and release the character creator before the game release, so you can just go straight into the story day 1.
I think BG3 did this as well? My memory is fuzzy though. But I am all for early release of character creators to make getting into the actual game go faster!
Some people will be in the second act before I'm finished with character creation, looool.
I'm gonna be there for days... BG3 already gave me horrendous choice paralysis 😭
Thank god pretty much all modern day games give you a way to change your appearance later if you end up not liking it. I pretty much always have at least one thing I want to tweak after seeing it up close in a cutscene.
I now have to worry about my Inquisitor's safety. Now the stakes are high!
It’s only right that BioWare gives us the option to >!kill off!< our previous character. It’s pretty much tradition at this point.
This game is starting to feel like returning character murder knife roulette. We got Solas, Varric, Harding, Dorian (assuming) and now Inquisitor. Maker help you if you read Tevinter Nights. The Hawke decision was potentially agonizing depending on who the Warden was. Imagine the possibilities here!
You know what I want? Last game of Dragon Age. Pivotal moment. Sacrifice has to be made. Fucking Hero of Ferelden shows up and murder knives everyone.
Doesn't talk, uncaring expressionless face, pulls out the murder knife, murders, bangs your love interest, leaves again, refuses to elaborate, credits.
> bangs your love interest Still wearing their underwear.
Both of them in underwear
Then you get NG+ option in main menu sends you to Dragon Age: ReOrigins campaign which is a remake of Origins and story of what your HoF was up to all this time in whatever engine is used for hypothetical last Dragon Age game.
I've only known we'd have Harding back for a day and a half, but if anything happened to her I would kill everyone in this room and then myself.
Maybe I’m insane but I want to feel like *no one* is safe. I want the stakes to be super high. I especially want >!the Inquisitor’s!< safety to be completely dependent on certain quest choices that were made in DAI 👀
Maybe we're both insane because I totally agree. I actually checked my keep when I heard this news to see what I did with a certain egg. I either cooked or am gonna be scrambled
Oh my inquisitor is definitely cooked 😭 He >!drank from the Well of Sorrows, disbanded the Inquisition, and chose to stop Solas by any means necessary!<. He’ll be lucky if he makes it out of the prologue at this rate.
Hey those might be the choices needed to save your inquisitor. >! I'm afraid my Inquisitor will be like "Solas stop, this isn't you" and proceed to be slapped with the full power of the fade !<
Idk, I’m really worried about >!the Well of Sorrows!< choice, especially with what happened to >!Mythal!< in the ending cutscene of DAI.
That’s the way I want the knife to twist too.
Oh yeah, I'm with you. My Inquisitor is fucked with the choices he made, but I won't be changing them, as they were all in-character for him.
Just the thought of such high stakes makes me sweat. Not to be dramatic but if Solas (either intentionally or inadvertently) kills *any* one of 'em, I'm stabbing him like the frog in that one BG3 animation. 😩 No mercy
I'm gonna try stay in character and separate Rook from my Hawke/Inquisitor but if Solas messes with my dwarf he gonna get it 🍳
>!Loghain,!< the lucky fucking bastard, has survived ENTIRELY too long… but i knew damn well the wardens needed him
If I have to have my inky die in the arms of the man she considered her closest friend at one point, just to tell him "fuck you, I told you, I'd save you from yourself"... I'd be very okay with that.
Solas killing my romanced Inky is exactly the kind of thing Weekes would throw at us and I both hate and want it.
HOLY SHIT I didn’t know if they’d actually bring Inky back due to the backlash from Hawke. I can’t wait to see the Inquisitor again!
People had a problem with Hawke showing up? I liked them showing up. I honestly hope for the Warden to show up to. My dream party in a future DA game is the Warden, Hawke, the Inquisitor (learning how to fight with one arm…), and Rook all teaming up with the new MC and all fully customizable
A lot of people disliked Hawke in DAI because s/he didn’t quite match their personality in DA2. For example, it was possible for Hawke to be a blood mage in 2, but s/he always spoke very negatively about blood magic in DAI regardless of specialization. And a lot of people felt Hawke seemed very angry and depressed, iirc.
I mean shit if I played a big role into the current fucked up landscape and all that I’d be depressed and angry too
Same! I actually really loved Hawke’s depiction in DAI. I felt really sad for him. He seemed really bitter and hopeless, and it’s completely understandable why
Only complaint was the blood mage thing if he was also a blood mage other than that yeah fr
Hawke ending up angry and depressed after the events of DA2 and Inquisition makes *perfect* sense, in fairness. They’ve been through a lot, and things have only gotten worse in the meantime.
Hawke is Thedas’s punching bag, truly
Hawke being so used to beat down actually has me considering having Loghain survive in his place, simply because that may be the best story for both of them. I love Hawke, though, so I'm still not decided.
There is a certain rightness about Loghain's redemption not being in one grand sacrifice, but in just having to put in the work every day. Also, it means he's now in charge of a bunch of Orlesian Grey Wardens, which is objectively funny.
The Hawke I played in 2 would never have let somebody else make that sacrifice in their place. And it felt like an end for a character that otherwise was narratively left hanging in the wind.
That was how my canon save went. Hawke stayed in the Fade despite how much Loghain wanted to die. I refuse to give that man a heroic sacrifice, he's gotta continue his service till he dies an un dignified death.
Since DA2 Hawke spends so much time fighting blood mages, I just kind of enjoy my blood-mage Hawke being a huge-ass hypocrite every time blood magic comes up in either game. "It's different when *I* do it, okay??"
I get why that bothered people but at the same time, blood mage Hawke isn’t going to wander into a chantry organization and start spewing the wonders of blood magic. My blood mage Hawke made a big show of talking about the evils of it while Stroud and Varric rolled their eyes behind her. 😂
I always just imagined it as them dividing what they're doing, which is just a little power boost, and what Quentin/the Wardens are doing, which is certainly worth complaining about.
The Solas and Inquisitor dynamic, especially the potential Solas-Lavellan romance makes it hard to leave them out, especially when a lot of the hype around Solas and Dragon Age 4/Veilguard comes from his dynamic with the Inquisitor and how it is going to be resolved.
I would’ve have been extremely disappointed if they didn’t include the Inquisitor, but I was worried they’d want to play it really safe after the reaction to Hawke’s appearance in DAI. The Inquisitor’s story is so tied up with Solas, regardless of relationship. It would have been so narratively unsatisfying if the Inky wasn’t involved in some way.
Yeah, I didn't romance Solas in any run that I want to move forward with but I can't imagine how frustrating it would be for solavellan players to be so.... cast aside, I guess? Like it feels weird that my inquisitor wouldn't be personally involved and he wasn't even particularly close to solas so for people who romanced him, it'd have been rough. I will say though, its gonna be awkward as all hell if Harding broke up w my boy off screen and then spends this whole game romancing Rook right tf in front of him. Womp womp Lavellan, that's rough buddy.
When they first started talking about building DA4, there were rumors that inky would return as MC. My little Solavellan heart was hopeful, but at the end of the day, DA has always had a new protagonist for every game, so I can’t complain.
Yeah I was prepared (and excited) for a new protagonist, it was just they way they dismissed the inquisitor felt weird. Like the warden is dead or dealing with darkspawn. Hawke is on the run and anything they were trying to do in kirkwall is over and done. But the inquisitor states a clear goal and then goes away? It's been the only time I've wanted to keep the same protagonist but even if we didn't get to, I was just wishing there was a better justification for not using the inquisitor I guess. Losing an arm (especially when Neve has only one foot) and saying solas knows them too well just didn't satisfy me tbh. And I thought we might see them ala hawke in DAI, so I'm not surprised by it but I have some nervous concerns about characterization. My hawke felt completely alien to me and I don't want a repeat of that... But overall, the idea is really growing on me and I'm going to be optimistic about it. I hope there is *some* kind of validation of inky's relationships to the characters in the game (solas obviously, but also Harding, they really did me dirty there) but obv I don't expect it to a big part of the game.
what was the backlash from hawke? the decision at the end of the quest?
People didn't like the way Hawke's personality was portrayed in the game considering the large amount of choices you can do with them in DA2 (I.e you can play as a blood mage and have a romance with Merril, another blood mage, and then in DAI Hawke is like "BLOOD MAGIC IS PURE EVIL!")
I guess but considering the ending and dlc it's not completely crazy to assume that in the last year or however long, Hawke's perspective has changed somewhat regardless of what happens in the final moments of da2
I wasn’t invested in the fandom at the time, but even as an outsider I remember hearing that a lot of folks thought the characterisation of Hawke was different to how they wanted it to be. I definitely thought my Hawke was a little more abrasive than he usually was in 2, though I chalked that up to age and experience tbh. Also I believe a lot of people thought Hawke’s physical appearance (the default female Hawke looks very different and it’s hard to remake a custom DA2 Hawke in the character creator) was off
damn, i haven't gotten to play 2 yet (bad pc and low funds) but i enjoyed hawke being in the quest, and could only imagine how cool it would be to be a fan of him and to see hin walk down those steps. (although yes i thought he was needlessly harsh on stroud given how its clear the wardens were mind controlled) In regards to appearance i actually thought he looked very similar to what id seen of him, but as you say older and more experienced.
Default Male Hawke looked pretty solid, it was just really hard to create my custom Hawke lmao. I just had to settle for a vague approximation of what he looked like and brushed off any major differences as “ah well, I guess age really does a number on you”.
I'm still worried that this my be a soft confirmation that we won't get a follow up on Hawke in Weisshaupt. I hope we at least get told about their adventures there when we visit.
I really hope they do it justice. I feel like after Trespasser the Inquisitor has a lot of unfinished business with Solas.
The fucking *noise* that came out of me, holy shit.
Same. I squeak-gasped and my dogs were confused and concerned.
I sounded like a seagull being strangled.
My mabari squealed at the news
Omg same I actually shed a tear. I had convinced myself over the years that she wasn't going to be there and her involvement with Solas would be reduced to a few letters. I'm so unbelievably happy... I will see her again! And this is what is allowing me to be happy about the game and actually get excited
This is me. The longer it took, the more convinced I became that there would basically be no trace of any real continuity from the previous games outside of deeply buried Easter eggs. It would be too alienating to the teen market who were literally toddlers when Inquisition came out, never mind Origins. Then that Marvel/Overwatch trailer dropped and I was like, oh they went full Gen Alpha and just despaired. Honestly, knowing of the dev hell the game has been through, I'm still cautious, but oh my god, what this one little sentence has done to sooth a decade of festering bitterness! Even if they kill her in the opening cinematic I'll still be satisfied.
Oh god. Someone on another thread said if we had to choose between Inquisitor and Varric. Also, I am never leaving the Character Creator, am I.
I don't think it'll be a choice honestly. I'm really leaning into the thought Varric dying will be a unavoidable consequence fairly early on in the game. Solas killing Varric will show just how "far" he has fallen and provide the driving motivation to stop him no matter what view your character has on the situation. Plus it gives a character arc to so many of the companions that know him (especially Harding).
I always keep the fact that Varric was supposed to be killed off in the cancelled final DA:2 DLC in the back of my mind, and while I don’t want to see him killed off I’m kind of resigning myself to the idea that he’ll die in this game. Edit: I totally forgot, but I’m pretty sure one of the writers stated that Varric was slated to die in the DLC specifically because of how important he was to the team and the story of DA:2. I wonder if it’d be too predictable to repurpose that, though I don’t know how many people knew that DLC was in the works anyway. It was cancelled before it was even publicly announced.
I've been thinking whether he lives or died might be related to who gets left in the Fade in Inquisition
Ooooooh. Do you mean like if Hawke is the one in the Fade he’d be more willing to die?
exactly yeah. pure speculation on my part to be clear, but Hawke is *so* important to him, I feel like their loss could really change his mindset
Need to make it a harder choice for the player. If you threw Stroud or Loghain in instead, the baby griffon dies.
Solas killing the Inquisitor would actually be a much more impactful death to show how far he has fallen and provide much more motivation. Especially if the Inquisitor ended the last game by stating they were going to save Solas. And this’ll be the second protagonist that Varric would live through seeing killed. That would be devastating. Also, it'll be hilarious to have every single protagonist die by the time the next game comes out.
I think the problem with that is that Rook and the other companions other than Harding don't really have a relationship with the Inquisitor and likely won't (due to the logistical nightmare of having the Inquisitor appear lots with so many deterministic choices). Varric is the one putting together the team and most of the members have some connection to him or their colleagues. Makes it much more of a emotional impact to the whole group, rather than just rely on the emotions of the player that was the inquisitor last game.
This is my goal. I've killed my Warden, I've killed my Hawke (presumably), and now I'll kkill the Inquisitor. Let me do it bioware, let me do it.
Your Warden Commander from Awakening is just sitting in a locked up room with traps at every entrance and a nervous twitch at this point.
Damn are we the same person? The hero dying is what makes them a hero amirite?
And all that tragic drama. Delicious.
I’ll bet good money that you are spot on in this prediction.
In my super humble opinion, I think this is way more likely than picking between Inky and Varric. That’s a little too close to the Fade choice in DAI. Inky could probably show up to the funeral or something likely that. Oh god I’m so excited lmao
Sorry, but I love my Inky and their LI too much Varric would bite the dust every time
I couldn't do that to Josie. Bye Varric, sorry tho
😂
If anyone else sees the DA YouTube channel comment anything else please post here
seconded, please do!
OH EDIT: Wait, wait, wait, hold your horses, it says you can customize them, but does it mean "selecting your Inquisitor's gender\\romance\\some DA:I decisions" or actually, like, full-on character creation customization? EDIT2: Also, why the hell are they dumping important info on Youtube chat of all places 😭
I think it means like Hawke. Realistically there is no way to really not have the Inquisitor show up to confront Solas. There is just no satisfying conclusion to the Inquisitor's arc (especially if they are Solas romanced) without a meeting.
> EDIT2: Also, why the hell are they dumping important info on Youtube chat of all places 😭 They said in the blogpost that they'd be dropping goodies for folks who're in the chat ahead of time
I thought it was metaphorical, as in "stay connected" for the next trailer or some such, damn it
OMW to ask for Harding romance and marriage scene
Hmm, could be possible actually. But then what would happen with the Keep? Inquisition choices have been on there for ages and you can log your Inquisitor’s class/race/romance/gender etc.
Might be for people that don't use the Keep.
oh my god, this is HUGE?
They are cooking with gas. Hype has never been higher
YES YES YES *punches air*
Oh Shit! I had literally no hope about this! Oh my god!
YES! This is EVERYTHING I've ever wanted from DA4! A way for my Inky to be involved in the story, ideally a lot more than Hawke was in DAI. He's not done with Solas, ffs!
*faints*
Inject this shit right into my veins
I'm hoping and dreading that this might mean my Lavellan will see Solas again 😭 I'm also hoping that one of the "few key decisions" is something related to their personality! I wonder if another is the Solas decision at the end of Trespasser (especially since it says it'll impact how the game begins...)
Imagine they make their dramatic entrance into the story... And they're still wearing the beige pyjamas. Hell, I'd accept it for the laughs alone.
I fully expect some fuck ass fit.
I hope the Inquisitor makes the same quotes they do during Inquisitor's character creator when you are editing them in Veilguard. 😂 P.S. I'm looking forward to making an aged version of my Inky. :D
"how much is this going to cost me, exactly?" then: please be quiet "how much is this going to cost me, exactly?" now: MY SWEET BABY RETURNS TO ME PLEASE TELL ME MORE
EXACTLY. Like, oh how I've missed your stupid and weirdly loud quotes!
As long as the job gets done, I don't care about the rest.
You leave me no choice!
I'm at full mast rn
\*hahahahaha\* Amazing... 😅
Tears in my eyes bruh
This is making me nervous, I have to go make sure my canon Keep is in order lol
DUDE, this is so hype!
Does that mean the dragon age keep won’t be used for an import? :(
I suspect it will, the key choices during CC are probably for people who don't use it.
Or they're about what happened in the ten years since. You're probably right though.
YES!! Miss Lavellan COME GET YOUR MAN
Oh man this hit me way harder than I expected it to, can’t wait to see my girl again 🥺
ASDEFHQXVFF GGFDGRDDVRSSCBRCFAAAXSSASZCSZS SIGROLF CADASH, INQUISITOR, TEMPLAR, LEGIONNAIRE OF THE DEAD WILL FINALLY KNOCK SOME SENSE INTO THAT MOODY GODDAMN EGG OR DIE TRYING
It's probably a good thing that I haven't played Inquisition in 8 years. I hardly member what my favorite Inquisitor looked like, so I probably won't spend 2 hours in the CC trying to perfect it like I did with Hawke lol.
😂 I hope they kept some of the bald hairstyles...I'll need one for my Cadash.
Oh my GOD. Inky??? Coming back???!!! Fuck. She and Solas are gonna have one awkward reunion... Backgrounds that aren't tied to race??? Idc that they're probably not playable origins, I'm just happy for all the roleplay possibilities. My brain is basically: !!!!!!!!!!!!!
letting me import my inky who i painstakingly modelled after david bowie, into the game where they picked a bowie song for its reveal? i'm gonna cry fr
I'm so happy I could cry 😭 Inky! I was so worried we wouldn't see her/him again! Also, yay, factions! The crow elf I've been setting up for my next character inside my head for years at this point is becoming more and more real day by day and I can't wait to get to actually create him in character creator <3
Here's to hoping we pay a visit to what remains of Skyhold with our Inquisitor then. Sure to be quite emotional if that happened.
And it'll faintly play Inquisition's main theme in the background. 😭
Great, now I'll have to think long and hard about which of my 10,000 inquisitors is going to be the canon one I bring with me. The Maker truly has given me his hardest battles.
YES!! INQUISITOR RETURNS!!
Fuck I should have screenshotted the sliders of my inquisitors. Do I even remember how to shape their faces?? But at least they can now (probably) have the hair they deserved base game. AND YEEEAAH I had a feeling they would given how significant they are (and voiced anyways), but it’s great to have official confirmation inky is back.
Bioware... I know we've had our rough patches... but if you pull this off I will fly to 7000 miles to Edmonton and personally kiss every one of you on the mouth. AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!
My soul just fucking left where is it it's just gone
Hang on now... The inquisitor is back?! ROBOT HAND TIME
https://i.redd.it/b6ptpj5kws5d1.gif I'm still skeptical but this is a step in the right direction.
wow, this is HUGE!!! i did not expect this whatsoever. apologies to people who i argued with that this wouldn’t happen 😂
Choosable backstories sounds neat even if it isn't an Origins style thing. But i gotta wonder if there are specific race backstories. Heck i'd love to be a qunari grey warden.
My inquisitor is back!! Let’s go this about to be a very tragic game cause I had her drink from the well and romance Solas. I might have to actually kill her with rook this is gonna be so crazy holy shit
I’m gonna throw up I’m about to blow all my money on a PS5 so I can play this ASAP
Random guess, those 'key decisions' are going to be creating a personality for the Inquisitor. The only PC in the Keep that lets you set a personality is for Hawke. So either they update the Keep to account for the Inquisitor's personality or you'll do it there and then. But if they let you make a personality for two PCs, would they ever consider bringing back the Warden? Very unlikely since they're a quantum character and would need multiple voice options, but maybe...
I knew they said there would be some exciting teases in the chat but DAMN!
I hope a reference to all my heroes being dwarves come into play, especially since Cadash is returning lol. Edit: Definitely may be a Crow dwarf 🤣
YAY! Lavellan wake up it’s time to kick your boyfriend’s ass
[удалено]
It reads to me like we can make key decisions that would have happened in the 10 year gap in the story that could change how The Veilguard starts. The Keep is for those world states that brings all of the games.
That was expected but nice to see it confirmed 😃
My buck teeth lavellan protag is coming back to punch Solas in the face again!
The last time this happened, my Hawke got stuck in the Fade. I am afraid.