# Dragon Age 4 (Dreadwolf) now in alpha



## pukunui (Jun 3, 2022)

UPDATE: BioWare has announced that the game is now in alpha, meaning they can play through the whole game and see how everything fits together. 









						Game Update — A New Milestone for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf
					

The team is incredibly happy to announce a huge step forward in the development of the game you now know as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf™: We have just completed our Alpha milestone!




					www.ea.com
				






The title of the fourth game in the Dragon Age CRPG series has been officially announced!















						Our Next Adventure — Dragon Age: Dreadwolf
					

Our next game now has an official name. We know you’ve anxiously awaited new details, and today we’re excited to reveal the official title of the next adventure across the lands of Thedas—Dragon Ag…




					blog.bioware.com
				




It looks like it will pick up where Dragon Age: Inquisition left off.

As a big fan of the world of Thedas, I am very excited to see what comes next!


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## doctorbadwolf (Jun 3, 2022)

Can’t wait to crack that egg.


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## pukunui (Jun 3, 2022)

doctorbadwolf said:


> Can’t wait to crack that egg.



Same. While the games are by no means perfect, the storytelling and lore are top notch!

If only I could find some people to play the Dragon Age TTRPG with. (I’ve got the original three box sets but not the hardcover book. I’m hoping Green Ronin will do a new, updated book to coincide with DA4.)


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## doctorbadwolf (Jun 3, 2022)

pukunui said:


> Same. While the games are by no means perfect, the storytelling and lore are top notch!
> 
> If only I could find some people to play the Dragon Age TTRPG with. (I’ve got the original three box sets but not the hardcover book. I’m hoping Green Ronin will do a new, updated book to coincide with DA4.)



I also can’t wait to hear all the DA: D jokes.


I haven’t got a chance to play the RPG either. I’d like to, but working on my own game makes it hard to play a lot of other games.


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## pukunui (Jun 3, 2022)

doctorbadwolf said:


> I also can’t wait to hear all the DA jokes.



LOL. I hadn’t thought of that!

My take on the games: 1 and 3 were the most fun but suffered a bit from side quest bloat. 2 had a good story but the repetitive maps became a real drag.

I also tend to find the warriors and rogues boring compared to the flashier mages, and I don’t play on the higher difficulties so don’t tend to worry about advanced tactics.

That said, my Hawke was a rogue so I could have Bethany survive rather than Carter.

I’m most looking forward to seeing where they take the story in terms of the elven lore. That has been some of the most rewarding story developments for me personally.

Solas created the Veil to free the elves from slavery at the hands of their own “gods”. He then disappeared for a long time, and when he returned, he discovered that his people were slaves once again - in some cases literally, in other cases more figuratively (the Dalish are “slaves” to a culture based on lies and misinformation), so now he wants to tear down the Veil in order to free them again.


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## doctorbadwolf (Jun 3, 2022)

pukunui said:


> LOL. I hadn’t thought of that!
> 
> My take on the games: 1 and 3 were the most fun but suffered a bit from side quest bloat. 2 had a good story but the repetitive maps became a real drag.
> 
> ...



God I hate that guy.  

I may have to play through again, or maybe finish 3, though the gather quests are rough.  

I really hope 4 has a good couple elf origins to play as.


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## DeviousQuail (Jun 4, 2022)

Definitely a game I will make time for. The reveals at the end of 3 were really interesting and not at all what I was expecting. It really left a lot hanging and I need to see where it goes.

I'd replay the games before this but probably with some mods or a lower difficulty to move things along. Origins is so good that I would just play that one straight up. 2 was an interesting story that was let down by rushed development. A mod that removes the multiple waves of enemies could be a god send. 3 with a mod that to auto complete all those collectible quests is required. I'm not doing all of that nonsense again.


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## doctorbadwolf (Jun 4, 2022)

DeviousQuail said:


> Definitely a game I will make time for. The reveals at the end of 3 were really interesting and not at all what I was expecting. It really left a lot hanging and I need to see where it goes.
> 
> I'd replay the games before this but probably with some mods or a lower difficulty to move things along. Origins is so good that I would just play that one straight up. 2 was an interesting story that was let down by rushed development. A mod that removes the multiple waves of enemies could be a god send. 3 with a mod that to auto complete all those collectible quests is required. I'm not doing all of that nonsense again.



Yeah if I can find an autocomplete mod for the collectible quests in 3, I’m all for it. Origins I have to have the skip the fade mod.


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## DeviousQuail (Jun 4, 2022)

doctorbadwolf said:


> Yeah if I can find an autocomplete mod for the collectible quests in 3, I’m all for it. Origins I have to have the skip the fade mod.



The Fade never bothered me as much as it did my friends. Between them, what I've read online, and how popular the fade skip mod is I might be the only person who feels this way. The only time I really hated it was when I had a Ranger and couldn't summon my pet. It makes sense but man was that annoying. That experience taught me the importance of grenades.


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## pukunui (Jun 4, 2022)

I enjoy the fade as well. Don't have any mods installed either.


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## Paul Farquhar (Jun 4, 2022)

I never had and problems with the Fade, and it's one of the most interesting ideas in the game.


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## Horwath (Jun 10, 2022)

Paul Farquhar said:


> I never had and problems with the Fade, and it's one of the most interesting ideas in the game.



It's interesting the 1st time, any additional play, it's just a chore.


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## Imaculata (Jun 13, 2022)

Such a bizarre title for Dragon Age 4. Did they randomly generate it?


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## Paul Farquhar (Jun 13, 2022)

I believe it is a reference to the true identity of Inquisition companion/elven god Solas.


> Fen'Harel: The Dread Wolf​_Main article: Fen'Harel_
> The Dread Wolf is an enigmatic trickster god of the elves, whose supposed betrayal of both the benevolent Creators and the malefic Forgotten Ones is the only explanation most elves have for the destruction of Arlathan. Dalish clans view him with wariness and seek to protect themselves and their kin from his treachery.
> 
> It is revealed by Solas in Mythal's temple that this could be a misinterpretation by the Dalish and instead he was the god of rebellion.



source

Fen'Haral would like it known that any similarities to the Asgardian known as Loki are entirely coincidental.


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## pukunui (Jun 13, 2022)

I see that there’s going to be a Dragon Age cartoon debuting on Netflix soon. It’s called DA: Absolution and is set in Tevinter. I wonder if it will tie into this game, given that it is also supposed to be mainly set in Tevinter?


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## deganawida (Jun 13, 2022)

pukunui said:


> I see that there’s going to be a Dragon Age cartoon debuting on Netflix soon. It’s called DA: Absolution and is set in Tevinter. I wonder if it will tie into this game, given that it is also supposed to be mainly set in Tevinter?



Likely.  They had a cartoon about Cassandra that gave her backstory mentioned in Inquisition.

As to the The Dread Wolf, I'm not certain that I want to play it.  I had a very hard time doing a second playthrough of Inquisition, because so much of that story was designed for Hawke, from the villain, to Cassandra, to Varric, and I just felt that the narrative made much less since due to BioWare abandoning Hawke.  YMMV, of course.


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## Davies (Jun 13, 2022)

pukunui said:


> I see that there’s going to be a Dragon Age cartoon debuting on Netflix soon. It’s called DA: Absolution and is set in Tevinter. I wonder if it will tie into this game, given that it is also supposed to be mainly set in Tevinter?



Probably. The last few comic book series, also set in Tevinter, definitely seemed to be setting stuff up ...


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## Paul Farquhar (Jun 13, 2022)

deganawida said:


> Likely.  They had a cartoon about Cassandra that gave her backstory mentioned in Inquisition.
> 
> As to the The Dread Wolf, I'm not certain that I want to play it.  I had a very hard time doing a second playthrough of Inquisition, because so much of that story was designed for Hawke, from the villain, to Cassandra, to Varric, and I just felt that the narrative made much less since due to BioWare abandoning Hawke.  YMMV, of course.



Each Dragon Age adventure has had its own main protagonist. It's a feature of the franchise. It's not about the adventures of a single individual.


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## deganawida (Jun 13, 2022)

Paul Farquhar said:


> Each Dragon Age adventure has had its own main protagonist. It's a feature of the franchise. It's not about the adventures of a single individual.




I'm aware that it became that.  However, with DA2, they had initially planned to have Hawke as the Inquisitor, prior to DA2's poor reception.  You can find Gaider's summary of what would have happened, as well as concept art of all the NPCs (including Anders and Red Templars) online.  It was to be called "The Exalted March."

Reference:  
Other data, including concept art, can be found via an internet search.

EDIT:  Just want to say that officially it wasn't canned due to reception of DA2, but due to the switch to Frostbite.  However, I take that with a grain of salt, as DA2 got a lot of flack when it was released, which is a shame, as I really enjoyed it.


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## Imaculata (Jun 13, 2022)

The trailer for the Dragon Age anime looks promising. I didn't see any characters from the games though. Will it even feel like Dragon Age without them?


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## Paul Farquhar (Jun 13, 2022)

deganawida said:


> I'm aware that it became that.  However, with DA2, they had initially planned to have Hawke as the Inquisitor, prior to DA2's poor reception.  You can find Gaider's summary of what would have happened, as well as concept art of all the NPCs (including Anders and Red Templars) online.  It was to be called "The Exalted March."
> 
> Reference:
> Other data, including concept art, can be found via an internet search.
> ...



Good thing they didn't though. As well as resetting the character levels, Having a new protagonist for each episode removes some of the plot armour of invulnerability. My Dragon Age Origins protagonist died at the end, so I'm glad they where not resurrected for the sequel.

And of course the best way to make sure your game is not poorly received is to make it not suck!


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## Dausuul (Jun 13, 2022)

DeviousQuail said:


> The Fade never bothered me as much as it did my friends. Between them, what I've read online, and how popular the fade skip mod is I might be the only person who feels this way. The only time I really hated it was when I had a Ranger and couldn't summon my pet. It makes sense but man was that annoying. That experience taught me the importance of grenades.



You are not the only person who liked the Fade scenes.


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## Blue (Jun 13, 2022)

Oh man.  Dragon Age is one of my favorite set of games, even though each of them had some serious flaws.

DA:O I played the hell out of, and completed it several times in different ways.

DA2 I played like crazy.  It was the weakest in some ways, but also: Varric.  I loved that smart-mouthed dwarf.  I not only played through several times, just a few months ago I reloaded it to play it some more.

DA:I I was super excited for, but it dragged.  My completionist brain kept me in the first area far too long and the whole game got grindy.  I finished it once, and started a second play-thru but there was just too much grind for some things and I abandoned it.  The companions were the best part, but didn't live up to DA2, and even DA:I Varric didn't live up to DA2 Varric.

Will I get this?  Pretty much guaranteed.  I hope that it's good, but unless it really gets panned I will pick it up and give it a try because of how much I liked the others.

Of course, I have been through this exact same process with them in terms of Mass Effect: Andromeda, which I found less disappointing than others claimed, but still not as good as the originals.

I'm hoping I don't dread DA: D and instead wolf it down.


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## MarkB (Jun 13, 2022)

Blue said:


> DA:I I was super excited for, but it dragged.  My completionist brain kept me in the first area far too long and the whole game got grindy.  I finished it once, and started a second play-thru but there was just too much grind for some things and I abandoned it.  The companions were the best part, but didn't live up to DA2, and even DA:I Varric didn't live up to DA2 Varric.



I've started Inquisition about three or four times, but I never got much past the first open area. It's one of those where I keep thinking "if I can just get through this part, maybe it'll start to be enjoyable." I don't get the impression that I was missing too much.


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## Blue (Jun 13, 2022)

MarkB said:


> I've started Inquisition about three or four times, but I never got much past the first open area. It's one of those where I keep thinking "if I can just get through this part, maybe it'll start to be enjoyable." I don't get the impression that I was missing too much.



What I learned is that the starting area is incredibly dense with things to do and quests - and the others are at a more reasonable amount.  So do the first area a bit, go for specifics like horses, and then leave it and try other places.

It's really uneven, but there's a lot in later parts.


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## MarkB (Jun 13, 2022)

Blue said:


> What I learned is that the starting area is incredibly dense with things to do and quests - and the others are at a more reasonable amount.  So do the first area a bit, go for specifics like horses, and then leave it and try other places.
> 
> It's really uneven, but there's a lot in later parts.



I may try it again at some point. Last time I loaded it up, it had multiple technical issues on my PC. If it ever gets added to PS Plus, I may check it out there.


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## Imaculata (Jun 13, 2022)

I greatly enjoyed DA3, especially the war table mechanic. I skipped DA2, because it was clearly inferior to DA1 in almost every way.

Dragon battles were awesome in DA3. I hope they bring back spell combos like Storm of the Century though.


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## Blue (Jun 13, 2022)

Imaculata said:


> I greatly enjoyed DA3, especially the war table mechanic. I skipped DA2, because it was clearly inferior to DA1 in almost every way.



DA2 was inferior to DA:O in many ways.  Oversimplified with a narrow scope.  Except: Varric.  Literally that one companion made it one of my favorites.  To the sadness of playing a rogue or wanting Isabella in my party.

He singlehandedly saved the game for me.  If you can find it at deep discount it's worth a playthrough.  Just plan around always having a ranged rogue in your party.


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## doctorbadwolf (Jun 14, 2022)

Imaculata said:


> Such a bizarre title for Dragon Age 4. Did they randomly generate it?



Solas is the Dreadwolf, and is the antagonist this game revolves around.


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## pukunui (Jun 14, 2022)

doctorbadwolf said:


> Solas is the Dreadwolf, and is the antagonist this game revolves around.



Yeah, and for people on the fence about DA:I, it does a really good job of setting up Solas so that while he might end up being the antagonist of this sequel, you can sympathise with his goals. He may be the antagonist, but whether or not he's a villain depends on your point of view, which is a credit to the DA storytellers.


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## doctorbadwolf (Jun 14, 2022)

pukunui said:


> Yeah, and for people on the fence about DA:I, it does a really good job of setting up Solas so that while he might end up being the antagonist of this sequel, you can sympathise with his goals. He may be the antagonist, but whether or not he's a villain depends on your point of view, which is a credit to the DA storytellers.



Wait, does it depend? He...wants to end the world, basically?


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## pukunui (Jun 14, 2022)

doctorbadwolf said:


> Wait, does it depend? He...wants to end the world, basically?



The way I see it is that he wants to save his people (the elves) from slavery (again). So his heart is in the right place. It's just that his methods are going to cause great devastation for the non-elven races ... but then he no doubt justifies that because of the continued ill treatment of the elves.


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## doctorbadwolf (Jun 14, 2022)

pukunui said:


> The way I see it is that he wants to save his people (the elves) from slavery (again). So his heart is in the right place. It's just that his methods are going to cause great devastation for the non-elven races ... but then he no doubt justifies that because of the continued ill treatment of the elves.



You're describing an unambiguous villain. 

Like I am literally all about the elves murdering their masters and taking their freedom into their own hands. But this dude views the Dalish as basically slaves because they...don't have enough information to accurately keep the old customs and faith of their ancestors...which he could literally just fix. 

Not to mention the messed up dynamic wherein he craps on modern elves for losing their knowledge...which happened through no fault of their own. 

Dude is 100% terrible. He's just hot because he looks like Lee Pace and he's mysterious in the first half of the game.


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## Davies (Jun 14, 2022)

He wanted to save his people from slavery to other elves, so he separated the world from the fade. This created the circumstances under which the elves ended up in slavery to humans. So now he will remove the separation of the world from the fade, which restores the original circumstances under which his people were enslaved to other elves.

He _doesn't have a good track record_ with these plans of his, is what I'm saying.


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## doctorbadwolf (Jun 14, 2022)

Davies said:


> He wanted to save his people from slavery to other elves, so he separated the world from the fade. This created the circumstances under which the elves ended up in slavery to humans. So now he will remove the separation of the world from the fade, which restores the original circumstances under which his people were enslaved to other elves.
> 
> He _doesn't have a good track record_ with these plans of his, is what I'm saying.



Well, and humans have a stronger grasp of magic and dealing with spirits than modern elves, so like...Tevinter is much more likely to come out on top of all this than any elf faction!


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## pukunui (Jun 14, 2022)

Yeah, I guess, when you put it like that ...


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## Paul Farquhar (Jun 14, 2022)

MarkB said:


> I've started Inquisition about three or four times, but I never got much past the first open area. It's one of those where I keep thinking "if I can just get through this part, maybe it'll start to be enjoyable." I don't get the impression that I was missing too much.



Dragon Age: Inquisition has a great (if heavily railroaded) main story. Much better than the meandering soap opera of Dragon Age II. The problem is it hid the quests that mattered in a huge forest of some of the worst sidequests ever designed. Mass Effect: Andromeda did the same, apart from it had a worse main story. Hopefully they have learned their lesson.

Of note: The DA:I companion Vivienne is voiced by Indira Varma, who plays Tala in _Obi-Wan Kenobi_.


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## pukunui (Jun 14, 2022)

Paul Farquhar said:


> Dragon Age: Inquisition has a great (if heavily railroaded) main story. Much better than the meandering soap opera of Dragon Age II. The problem is it hid the quests that mattered in a huge forest of some of the worst sidequests ever designed.



You reckon? I felt like all the main quests were really obvious and I had to delay doing many of them in order to see what all the other ones.

What I will say is that it is overloaded with unnecessary customization options. The crafting gets a bit tedious after a while. 



Paul Farquhar said:


> Of note: The DA:I companion Vivienne is voiced by Indra Varma, who plays Tala in _Obi-Wan Kenobi_.



Interesting! I didn’t recognize her voice. But then I didn’t really like Vivienne so only used her as a companion when I had to.

I played an elf mage and usually used Cassandra/Iron Bull, Varric/Sera, and Dorian/Solas. Didn’t like Black Wall and just never bothered with Cole.


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## Paul Farquhar (Jun 14, 2022)

pukunui said:


> You reckon? I felt like all the main quests were really obvious and I had to delay doing many of them in order to see what all the other ones.



Thery weren't _well _hidden. But anyone who is remotely completionist is going to be distracted by those side quests, in the hope that they might stumble across one that is interesting and relevant (and what's worse, a couple are, you just have to wade through a ton of detritus to find them).


pukunui said:


> Interesting! I didn’t recognize her voice. But then I didn’t really like Vivienne so only used her as a companion when I had to.



I didn't, it was too long ago, and I don't think anyone liked the character! But I recognised Indira, so I looked up her CV.


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## pukunui (Jun 14, 2022)

Paul Farquhar said:


> Thery weren't _well _hidden. But anyone who is remotely completionist is going to be distracted by those side quests, in the hope that they might across one that is interesting and relevant (and what's worse, a couple are, you just have to wade through a ton of detritus to find them).



It definitely suffers from side quest bloat like DA:O (but not DA2), but I don’t agree that there was anything particularly important hidden away among all the large maps full of crafting materials. Lots of little lore secrets and such but nothing of great import to the main plot.



Paul Farquhar said:


> I didn't, it was too long ago, and I don't think anyone liked the character!



Vivienne’s a bit too haughty and too anti-mage freedom for my taste, which is a shame because she’s a great dresser!


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## DeviousQuail (Jun 14, 2022)

Paul Farquhar said:


> I didn't, it was too long ago, and I don't think anyone liked the character! But I recognised Indira, so I looked up her CV.



My two cents: It's tough to get on board with Vivienne when you have Solas, Dorian, and potentially your MC all competing in the same space. We've had an elven mage before but your first introduction paints Solas as someone who knows more than they're letting on. He's also there immediately so you can become anchored to him as your mage. Dorian comes later but is unique in that he's a Tevinter mage so his pov is pretty unique across the entire series. The main quest with him is also better than Cole's so I choose it every time. Vivienne reminds me of many of the mages we've already met through the series with an Orlaisian coat of paint. Not bad, but she's got tough competition. 



Spoiler: Too many companions (minor spoilers)



Having so many potential companions is cool but once I find three that I like I will use them almost all of the time. I wish games like this had a thinning of the herd moment in them. Give me options, let me try some different combos, but eventually force a choice and let the others die/leave/become npcs. For DAO it could be after Lothering or completing the first major ally quest (some characters would need an earlier intro but that's not hard), DA2 could do it sometime before heading underground, and in Inquisition anyone you don't pick during the defense of Haven could die or be taken prisoner. I feel the same way about any game that gives you a stable of companions that sit around doing nothing while me and my besties save the day.


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## pukunui (Jun 14, 2022)

@DeviousQuail: Agreed on all counts. That said, I’d rather the extra companions sit around doing nothing than act like I care about/for them even though I never take them with me.

I’ve not forgotten how NWN2 just assumed my female PC was in a romantic relationship with that annoying paladin companion even though I only ever talked to and quested with him when the game made me.


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## Paul Farquhar (Jun 14, 2022)

DeviousQuail said:


> I wish games like this had a thinning of the herd moment in them.



Some do, but it tends to be unpopular/controversial. BG3 does this (currently), any companions you don't have with you at the end of chapter one don't follow you into chapter two, and apparently die. Depending on your actions in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous companions can leave or be killed. And so on.


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## pukunui (Jun 14, 2022)

You can manually dismiss companions in DA:I (or piss them off enough that they choose to leave), but yeah, there’s no auto-cull as it were.


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## DeviousQuail (Jun 14, 2022)

Paul Farquhar said:


> Some do, but it tends to be unpopular/controversial. BG3 does this (currently), any companions you don't have with you at the end of chapter one don't follow you into chapter two, and apparently die. Depending on your actions in Pathfinder Wrath of the Righteous companions can leave or be killed. And so on.



I haven't played BG3 yet so I can give that a try and see how I feel about it. Now that I think about it Divinity Original Sin 2 has a culling that I like and the same people made BG3. The companions in DOS2 are way more customizable and fewer in number, which probably helps. If only there were more hours in the day.


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## doctorbadwolf (Jun 14, 2022)

pukunui said:


> You reckon? I felt like all the main quests were really obvious and I had to delay doing many of them in order to see what all the other ones.
> 
> What I will say is that it is overloaded with unnecessary customization options. The crafting gets a bit tedious after a while.
> 
> ...



Cassandra, Varric, Sera, and sometimes Iron Bull rather than Cassandra was very fun as a mage. When I played a rogue it was always ranged, and became hard mode because I’d need a mage, and thus have only 1 melee!  Usually Cassandra. Love The Iron Bull, but like…Cassandra. 

Eventually I started running with Cassandra and Varric, or Sera and Iron Bull.


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## doctorbadwolf (Jun 14, 2022)

I just wish they’d let you use a part of 6 lol


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## wicked cool (Jun 14, 2022)

this game development has been so strange. 2+ years ago an announcement /presentation at one of the game awards and then radio silence. Literally they have been working solely on this game (dedicated bioware team for years) and the drips from twitter to a rabid fan base (me included in that fan base) was poor at best. we learned it was going to be an MMO then turned into a single player game 

Then the studio recently resurrects mass effect and the main contact person is happy to talk about it 
then a bunch of the top people who were on the DA team moved on

Now we have a title which we sort of already had and nobody knows if any of the previous drips are still valid 

They are  a successful company but if they put a little more effort into marketing and polish in their games they could be much more


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## Paul Farquhar (Jun 15, 2022)

wicked cool said:


> They are a successful company but if they put a little more effort into marketing and polish in their games they could be much more



The sale to EA effectively broke the company. They are trying to rebuild, but the only thing they still have are the IPs.


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## Jahydin (Jun 15, 2022)

wicked cool said:


> Then the studio recently resurrects mass effect and the main contact person is happy to talk about it
> then a bunch of the top people who were on the DA team moved on



Yeah, this worries me the most. Will certainly not be pre-ordering until reviews come out.


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## Paul Farquhar (Jun 15, 2022)

Jahydin said:


> Yeah, this worries me the most. Will certainly not be pre-ordering until reviews come out.



Well, it's probably being made with a largely new and young team. They may be very good.


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## wicked cool (Jun 15, 2022)

true to game maybe a triple A game like Witcher 3 and they have a  lot of enthusiasm but at times they have had a semi unfriendly relationship with their customers. EA has given them a new engine and a long development time for DA4. They got a new office and it seems like working conditions improved. They have had an interesting history from DAO through DAI on decisions made


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## pukunui (Jun 15, 2022)

I just hope they keep building on the lore of Thedas in a satisfying way. Say what you want about DA:I’s gameplay, it really did a fantastic job building on bits of lore from both of its predecessors as well as introducing some new twists, like the truth about the Veil and the elven gods.


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## pukunui (Jun 21, 2022)

doctorbadwolf said:


> Wait, does it depend? He...wants to end the world, basically?



I just finished Trespasser with my female elf inquisitor. I still feel some sympathy for Solas. He seemed genuinely sad about what happened to the elves after he created the Veil. While it turned out poorly, his intentions were good. I don't agree with his plan to restore elves to their former glory at the cost of everyone else's civilizations, but he gave me some hope when he told my elf inquisitor that he'd love for her to prove him wrong. I'm guessing I won't get to play as my inquisitor in DA4, but it would be nice if the game gives me the chance to change Solas' mind and redeem him (rather than have to kill him).

That being said, I acknowledge that Solas is no saint. He is arrogant, believing he is the only one who can make things right. He is also conspicuously silent on the subject of his own role in the elevation of the Evanuris to god-like status. I mean, the Dalish consider him a god, too, and he certainly acts like he thinks he is one.

I also find it interesting that while he is opposed to vallaslin and there don't appear to be any designs dedicated to him, he regards Mythal as "the best among us" and yet she _does_ have vallaslin designs dedicated to her. She obviously wasn't opposed to slavery back in the day, nor did she seem to be opposed to being considered a god by her fellow elves.

Complicating things further is that Solas now has the souls of both Mythal and Urthemiel inside him. And from what I've read about DA4, there seems to be a rumor about him becoming corrupted by red lyrium (and that he may have even been its original creator, since the red lyrium idol from DA2 has been featured in some of the DA4 promo material).


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## pukunui (Oct 26, 2022)

They’ve reached the alpha stage in the game’s development!









						Game Update — A New Milestone for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf
					

The team is incredibly happy to announce a huge step forward in the development of the game you now know as Dragon Age: Dreadwolf™: We have just completed our Alpha milestone!




					www.ea.com


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## Benjamin Olson (Oct 26, 2022)

Paul Farquhar said:


> The sale to EA effectively broke the company. They are trying to rebuild, but the only thing they still have are the IPs.



Really, with few exceptions, "they" aren't the same people that made up the "good old days" Bioware. Video game companies in general have a lot of turnover (and the public often imputes too much expectations of consistancy onto companies which, fundamentally, are often not really the same team from project to project), but, as I think you're alluding to, they shed a lot of key people both immediately after and gradually in the years after the EA acquisition. At this point Bioware is just the successor entity holding the IPs with a handful of stragglers from old Bioware.

Which doesn't mean that they couldn't have the right team with a few people who worked on prior Dragon Age games, and a bunch of people who've played them, have a feel for them, and are good at their jobs, to make an excellent Dragon Age game. But there is no longer a meaningful Bioware seal of Biowareness that comes with a Bioware branded product. And obviously EA's branding might as well come withe "Caveat Emptor" written as a slogan below.


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## wicked cool (Oct 27, 2022)

Benjamin Olson said:


> Really, with few exceptions, "they" aren't the same people that made up the "good old days" Bioware. Video game companies in general have a lot of turnover (and the public often imputes too much expectations of consistancy onto companies which, fundamentally, are often not really the same team from project to project), but, as I think you're alluding to, they shed a lot of key people both immediately after and gradually in the years after the EA acquisition. At this point Bioware is just the successor entity holding the IPs with a handful of stragglers from old Bioware.
> 
> Which doesn't mean that they couldn't have the right team with a few people who worked on prior Dragon Age games, and a bunch of people who've played them, have a feel for them, and are good at their jobs, to make an excellent Dragon Age game. But there is no longer a meaningful Bioware seal of Biowareness that comes with a Bioware branded product. And obviously EA's branding might as well come withe "Caveat Emptor" written as a slogan below.



I don’t think dragon age origins could be made in todays market. Slavery, rape, prostitution racism etc. people on the boards have speculated that tevinter will be toned down in dread wolf


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## MarkB (Oct 27, 2022)

wicked cool said:


> I don’t think dragon age origins could be made in todays market. Slavery, rape, prostitution racism etc. people on the boards have speculated that tevinter will be toned down in dread wolf



It might be less popular, but hardly impossible. As an immediate for-instance, Cyberpunk 2077 deals with all those themes.


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## pukunui (Dec 4, 2022)

Apparently it's Dragon Age Day, and as part of that, Bioware has released an in-game cinematic trailer with a voiceover by everybody's favorite dwarf.



It doesn't really tell us anything new, but it's still fun to watch.


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## Mallus (Dec 4, 2022)

I picked up a PS5 over Thanksgiving, so I’m ready to give Solas a… stern talking to. 

Think there’s a chance for a 2023 release?


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## Davies (Dec 4, 2022)

Mallus said:


> Think there’s a chance for a 2023 release?



I would expect it sometime in Q3 2024, but stranger things have happened.


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## pukunui (Dec 10, 2022)

I just binged Dragon Age: Absolution on Netflix. Pretty good. Animation style reminded me of Avatar: the Last Airbender. The story refers back to DA2 and makes me suspect that DA4 won’t just be about stopping Solas.


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## Paul Farquhar (Dec 10, 2022)

pukunui said:


> I just binged Dragon Age: Absolution on Netflix. Pretty good. Animation style reminded me of Avatar: the Last Airbender. The story refers back to DA2 and makes me suspect that DA4 won’t just be about stopping Solas.



I don't think it was ever going to be about _stopping_ Solas. He was never simply a villain.


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## pukunui (Dec 10, 2022)

Paul Farquhar said:


> I don't think it was ever going to be about _stopping_ Solas. He was never simply a villain.



Oh, I love Solas as a character. He’s fascinatingly complex. However, I’m fairly confident DA4 will involve a quest to stop Solas from tearing down the Veil.

After watching Absolution, I suspect it will also involve stopping a villain we last saw in DA2.


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## Kaodi (Dec 23, 2022)

I just want to know whether DA4 will finally tip the hat on what the deal with the Maker and the Black City is.


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## wicked cool (Dec 25, 2022)

There’s no crossover with absolution. BioWare confirmed so no characters or story are in the game
I actually thought it was just ok. Animation was ok except they switched it for large monsters which was jarring. The plot was a mess and the characters motivations were a mess. People on BioWare forums don’t have a lot of hope for a second season


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