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A lot of stories will give you a single opinion on Dragon Age: Inquisition, but this story is givein you two opinions for the price of one. However, when it comes to BioWare’s upcoming fantasy RPG, those opinions might be fairly similar.
Ben: Hey Kim, we both just walked out of the Dragon Age demo, and I don’t know about you, but I felt like high fiving after that.
Kim: I absolutely felt the same. I was worried that going for a larger world might hinder other aspects, but whoa...that felt like a real, living world. I like how it was torn up due to the war, too, so it fit with the storyline. What’d you think about the environments?
Ben: Yeah, I love the open world too. It reminded me of Skyrim, but some some strange ways more lifelike. The world seems denser. I liked the part where the party was wondering through the forest and they got attacked by a bear. A moment later they were fighting bandits and then getting a side quest from an old beggar woman. I also love how the environment reacted to the battles. You could see the trees sway when a dragon passed by overhead and a wooden dock started to fall apart after it had been set on fire.
Kim: That fight with the massive dragon the Ferelden Frostback was great! I liked how fast and fluid the combat looked, but despite you having all these fancy moves in your arsenal, dragons are still really tough to take down. In fact, I liked how the dragon moved around on the battlefield, finding different vantage points, and that it was smart enough to retreat after it took a fair share of damage. The combat in general plays out more natural. What did you think of the tactical combat that let you survey things and plan out the most advantageous areas for your party members depending on their skills?
Ben: I love the idea, I guess I’d like to understand how it works a little more. Maybe that’s one of those things that you actually have to get your hands on to fully grok, but it looks cool regardless. I think I’ll probably spend a lot of time in the tactical mode, because I love strategy games, so this kind of seems like the best of both worlds, people who love strategy can slow down the combat at plan out all their moves and those who prefer quick action can ignore it altogether. Here’s a smooth segue; what do you think about the game’s story? Think it will be better than Dragon Age 2?
Kim: I like what I’m hearing about how depending on who you bring into the party for certain missions will have different consequences. I think that’s an interesting dilemma to put you in as an Inquisitor. I also liked how different party members will have different stakes in the journey and those will be reflected. For instance, if you play as a mage for a mission where you’re confronting a corrupt mage, they might know the person or have more thoughts on the matter. I think giving you so much power to shape the world as you want as the Inquisitor will be a cool and also intense. BioWare has been building up the war between the Templars and mages, and you finally get a say in how you think things should be approached. And you know no matter what you do, somebody is going to be hurt. Dragon Age II got the war going, but Dragon Age: Inquisition is not only about ending that war, but preventing an even greater catastrophe; the world’s fate is in your hands. The new party members haven’t grabbed me yet, but I haven’t heard much about who they are other than brief background and a personality trait or two. But let me say this, Leianna has really transformed...she’s just so cold and badass from what we saw. BioWare has been building her up a while as an agent of the Divine, so seeing her back is great. I think she’s going to bring a lot to the table. How’d you feel about the characters?
Ben: Kim! You just wrote a lot; you overachiever! I don’t need to write that much. I thought Leianna was hot. Go ahead, call me a pig.
Kim: I will not, I'm above that, and you should be too. You know I love my Dragon Age; I can’t help but get excited, but seriously I feel much more confident and excited for the game. October 7 can’t come soon enough.
Ben: Then I'll really want to high five!
To see even more screens and info right now you can check out over Dragon Age: Inquisition cover hub. .
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