- Cassandra Pentaghast. Some of the earliest information released for DA:I was about how the player can customize armor for the companions and the two individuals chosen for it were a generic looking warrior (who may be a Grey Warden judging by his armor's colorscheme) and a woman who's almost assuredly Cassandra. Bioware's invested a LOT in Cassandra: not only did she get a lot of concept art and attention to her framing story for a woman who appears very little in DAII, but she was also the protagonist of the (forgettable) movie Bioware put out. Additionally, Cassandra's home nation of Nevarra got a massive amount of new, detailed lore in World of Thedas, following Tevinter and Orlais, which are areas that have both been confirmed to be visited in DA:I. They would not have put so much work into a supporting character: bear in mind she went through three design revisions before DAII came out. Bioware, AFAIK, didn't do that for "simple" major supporting characters like Arl Eamon. Cassandra as a companion is almost confirmed, and I'd go out on a limb and say she's going to be a necessary, plot important companion that you can't drop until near the end (if at all) like Alistair, Morrigan, Anders and Varric.
- Cole. Cole was the only pre-existing character leaked in the survey above, appearing in Asunder. While the other characters on that list can be changed up, Cole is a known quantity that Bioware spent time making sure we got to know. He also has a very personal connection to the mage/templar war that's surely to be a plot point.
- A Tevinter companion. There's one listed in the survey but I don't think his characteristics are important enough to keep, but a character who presents a sympathetic viewpoint on Tevinter will likely be included for a couple of reasons; As with my rationale for why they fleshed out Nevarra in WoT, I also think we're probably going to visit Tevinter at some point in the game. A nation that can be seen as a refuge for the rebellious mages, as well as a nation not squeamish about working with demons, seems like a sure fit for what little we know about the plot. A very large chunk of the recent comics trilogy took place in Tevinter, and in it a lot of detail was paid to one character in particular, Maevaris Tilani, who I think has a very good shot at getting in. In addition to being relatively "nice" for a Tevinter, Maevaris is also trangender, and that fits in with Bioware's bent towards inclusion (we've had the G, the L and the B in "GLBT" so far but not really any "T" in Dragon Age), and the old adage is that there's no such thing as bad publicity: you think the lesbian Liara sex scene in ME sold some copies of the game? Wait 'till Fox News gets a hold of Mae.
- A grey warden companion, to go with the other dude shown in Cassandra's artwork, who was also hinted at in the leaked survey. I'm going to go out on a limb and say/hope that Stroud is this particular Grey Warden: he's mysterious enough to pop up in a few places in DAII and whet our appetite with talk of his greater mission, and we do know that the Wardens will come to blows with... something in DA:I (a lot of people speculate the Seekers but I don't think those besieging the Grey Warden base are shown). It could very well be a new character, but if he's going to be a returning character, it'd be Stroud.
- As much as I dislike him (or rather, the inexplicable fans he has), Cullen has a very good chance of being in the game. His voice actor has confirmed he's recording lines for the character, if I recall, and the survey did mention he's going to be in the game. Like the tevinter companion above, we're going to need a character to present a "softer", "more approachable" side of the mage/templar war, and Cullen seems like a good character to do so after his rebellion against Meredith.
The next three guesses are highly speculative, and require a bit of explanation. The plot of Dragon Age: Inquisition was foreshadowed somewhat in Witch Hunt (and to a lesser degree, in Dragon Age: Origins) and there has been some scuttlebutt that what we're not getting as the third game in the DA setting was originally intended to be the second, with the plot of DAII being cobbled together from background info that set up what we're not getting as DA:I (specifically, I think DAII, or as it was then known, Dragon Age: Exodus, was planned as a book which explains its rather unique nested narrative style and lack of a central, driving plot). Early work on DA2 featured a party of four escaping Ferelden much like what we actually ended up getting with Hawke, his family and Aveline in DAII, only instead it was a human mage (the early prototype for Hawke whose design features the seeker sunburst on his robe, referred to concept artist Matt Rhodes as "Biker Mage" and who was then known as "Ulrich von Hawke"), an elven archer, a male grey warden warrior (see above) and either a Qunari or Dwarf. Since the Grey Warden often appears with his face covered and Hawke had a definite first name at that stage in development, I'd actually hazard a guess and say that at some very, very early stage in DAII's planning the protag was going to be another Grey Warden and Hawke a companion. Now, the Grey Warden, elf rogue and qunari warrior are all alluded to in the survey linked above, and while it's not at all concrete that they're going to appear in-game, I think we have a little bit more lead for them than others.
- The elven rogue is referred to as Sera in the leaked info though assuming they haven't gotten around to recording dialogue that may change. While a lot of the concept art done by Matt Rhodes makes the character look very Dalish, with her green, asymmetrical clothing and wild hairstyles, I think a lot of that "look" was actually folded into Merrill during DAII's development, so the character is likely to have a completely different aesthetic: and considering that the leaked survey pins her as a city rather than Dalish elf, I think that's going to stick.
- The Qunari warrior is named the Iron Bull in the leaked survey, though my gut tells me that if this character is included, he may not stick. More specifically, the character is a Tal'vashoth and while I think it could be interesting having a Tal'vashoth companion to contrast both Sten from Origins and the presumably Orthodox Qunari we'll be seeing in DA:I, I'm not sure if a "hard drinking, hard fighting mercenary" guy is the right message for the Qunari if for no other reason than it's really... generic for a fantasy game. He basically sounds like Oghren in a Qunari body and I think Bioware knows they can do better. As such, I think it's very likely we'll get a Qunari warrior who will probably be Tal'vashoth, but he may not be known as the "Iron Bull" or have any of that character's mannerisms.
- The final character is *really* up in the air for me. That dwarf seems to have been concepted at a different time than the Qunari (I can't say who replaced whom) and he may very well be a prototype for Varric, in which case I don't think he'll be in DA:I- he's dual wielding and not particularly heavily armored, though his thick, stocky build makes me think he was intended as a warrior rather than a rogue, though his lack of a beard and prodigious bling-bling make me think it could be Varric. I've got no clue to this character's identity as no dwarf was included in the survey, but judging by his sickly, pale skin, the fact we know the game will take place at least partially in Orlais and a lot of the new lore we got in WoT, if we're getting a dwarf companion he will probably be from Kal-Sharok rather than Orzammar.
Modifié par MisanthropePrime, 27 juillet 2013 - 07:17 .
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