Hopes for DA4
Okay. I have a lot of opinions right now about the next game. My dash is full of people wanting their Inquisitors back for DA4, for many reasons. I’ve said before that I would not be angry if we don’t get them back, but now I feel I need to clarify. I will not be surprised.
I’ve watched Weekes’ recent interview, and I love listening to him geek out and have fun. But, I did listen. So here it is.
I don’t like getting invested in a new protagonist time and time again–it makes it hard to invest at all. I can; it’s the nature of interests, but when I put so much effort into a character only to lose them over and over (not necessarily through death)–I will have a hard time touching the new game for a long time, meaning I will not immediately jump in and buy it. I don’t replay DAO much because the game is long and I can’t invest in my wardens the way I had at first. I know where their stories can go. I can sit in the keep and make plenty of them for a new worldstate. I replay DA2 because it is short and sits on the same level as essentially comfort food for me, but I don’t get too invested in my Hawkes when I do it. Not anymore.
But then there’s Inquisition. I can’t stop playing, even with Trespasser. I’m super invested! My Lavellan and Trevelyan are fun to play! And part of the fun, for me, as a player, is not knowing where they are going next. Their story is finished… but unfinished. I want to play my Lavellan opposing Solas’ plan, doing her level best to save him. And, I remember reading way back last year that Bioware had been studying the movement of one-armed amputees and how they could move and fight with that. They have looked into it! Losing their arm should never prevent them from being a main player character and it would help make sense that they need to relearn their skills all over again.
I spent a long time investing in my Inquisitors, and honestly, I would be happy to continue them forward. The rule about Thedas not being one person’s story makes sense, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have one person’s story be multiple games and then move on to someone new after that. I want a complete story. DAI does and doesn’t feel complete–it feels like a complete origin story of epic proportions, like a complete setup for the next part of the Inquisitor’s story. My wardens and Hawkes were done by the end of their games (and DLC). But it really does feel like the Inquisitor isn’t done yet–they still have goals and a stake in things, and it wouldn’t make sense for the next person to have the same stake in, say, Solas, as the Inquisitor does.
As a player… I don’t want my Inquisitor in a supporting, sideline role to handle Solas. I want them to struggle for Solas directly–he is their friend, their love, their enemy. Yes, we are moving on to a new part of Thedas and likely new companions. I’m okay with that–the companions feel wrapped up. It’s the Inquisitor who… well, isn’t. They are and they aren’t. It’s strange. At this point, the new protagonist “rule” for every game feels arbitrary with how Trespasser left things. I was more ready for a new person after the end game, but now, after Trespasser, I feel… like I’m sitting on a cliff waiting to get nudged off or pulled back and I don’t know which I want.
Losing an arm isn’t going to make me not want to play them, nor should it stop them from being a hero. Also, the Inquisitor is the first protagonist in Dragon Age with no defined age. I want to play someone who has been around the block, who is older, experienced. The Warden and Hawke have rough canon ages that start them pretty young; the Inquisitor does not. You can play that grizzled warrior who has been around the block before with them, and if their story is continued, then you can do so even more. That would be great!
The Inquisitor is left with finishing Book One, maybe even Book Two with Trespasser–I would like to see Book Three (through Five, if we’re going for a Trilogy or a five part series) for them. Playing a few games as one protagonist’s complete arc would make me very happy, and ready to play as a new protagonist after that. I need a defined and definite ending to the story.
Another thing! I would love to play a story like Leliana’s Song for Solas–playing AS Solas during the events that led up to the creation of the Veil? HOW AWESOME WOULD THAT BE?!?!
