14 DAY TRIAL // Seeing Dragon Age: Inquisition during my first appointment at E3 2014 might have been a great thing because I love both the series and the gameplay mechanics that power it, but it almost certainly affected the rest of my show experience because it set very high standards of quality.
Mike Laidlaw, the BioWare leading producer for the game, is the person who guided us through an experience which involved both real-time and tactical combat, some interesting story elements and a final moment that hinted at the true nature of the ultimate villain of the title.
The Dragon Age: Inquisition demo for E3 2014 features a Qunari female mage, a more than intriguing mix of race and class, and the character demonstrated a lot of very powerful spells in battle and some interesting lines during dialog.
The real-time combat sections are fast and fluid, with a focus on movement, solid positioning and teamwork.
BioWare has even introduced a new Focus resource, which can power some truly impressive spells, that can only be acquired when the abilities of the characters in the party are used together to take out enemies.
Dragon Age: Inquisition also offers a solid tactical layer, with the camera zooming out upwards in order to give the player a better look at the battlefield and choose where to position his forces and exactly how they should act during the coming turns.
Lovers of both previous titles in the series should be satisfied with the new system and the game also benefits from some impressive graphics, courtesy of the Frostbite 3 engine, despite the fact that the version of the game shown was still alpha.
The highlight of the demo was a fight with a dragon, which was both tactical and exciting and hinted at the variety of situations that the final product will offer.
BioWare has not forgotten the narrative element of the series and plans to introduce a lot of choices and branching paths, different results to situations linked to characters chosen for the party and other elements that will make the entire experience very replayable.
Laidlaw has also promised that the entire story will be more open than ever and will allow gamers to express their personality via both dialogue and the decisions they make in order to save the world.
Dragon Age: Inquisition will be delivered on October 7 of this year on the PC, the Xbox One from Microsoft and the PlayStation 4 from Sony.