BioWare should offer more bite-sized experiences

Nov 22, 2014 17:33 GMT  ·  By

One of the initiatives associated with the launch of Dragon Age: Origins is the introduction of the online Keep service, which is designed to allow gamers to explore the choices associated with the first two titles in the franchise in order to create a world state for the new experience which is in line with their moral compass and their ideas about the future of the story.

The concept is simple, does not force players to actually play the previous experiences because it does not require saves, and is relatively quick to use, especially once the gamer has a clear understanding of the main inflection points of the narrative.

The worlds generated in the Dragon Age: Keep can then quickly be exported into Inquisition and shared with friends, making it a much more useful tool than it initially appears.

BioWare has even hinted that the service might be expanded with more features in the future and the interesting and very lyrical The Last Court experience is also available at the moment on it.

Storytelling and gameplay for a future Dragon Age title

The beauty of the Keep is that it segments the fiction of the world and it makes it easier for gamers to see how the various choices and consequences work together.

I would love to see the same concept applied to Dragon Age: Inquisition, allowing me to see the results of some of the side quests that I might never complete because I lack the required time.

Even better, the Keep could be linked, in the future, with a collection of all the titles in the series, allowing gamers to only replay small bits in order to see the quest progressing and to understand the choices that they are making.

At the moment, the tech is probably unable to support such an idea, but I suspect that with streaming evolving at a solid pace, in a few years, I could simply click on the Character tab in the Keep section for Dragon Age: Origins in order to actually play through the choice again and see how it could impact the rest of the story.

Such a concept would work well with a subscription and it would be a great solution for modern gamers, who tend to have a limited amount of time to spend even with their favorite titles.

An enhanced Keep would allow them to experience all those segments they like most, while also getting a look at how the story moves around them.

Dragon Age: Inquisition Images (10 Images)

Storytelling interactions in Inquisition
World explorationLore details
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