So…I hear many people going on about the various possibilities for DA4 setting and story, including, but not limited to:
· Tevinter Imperium…because Corypheus can name-drop. But this surely is too small, and, to be honest, Tevinter has not enough power to support a protagonist or antagonistic effort. Though the Black Divine may be an interesting idea, admittedly, an evangelization or forced conversion game seems both too simple and too controversial in terms of parallels.
· Nevarra, because we all love Cassandra…and it’s north…ish. This is NOT a well-thought-out idea chiefly because of Nevarra’s relative size being similar to Orlais, and DA franchise is probably in need to go bigger for the time being.
· The return of the Hero, or Warden commander of Orlais! Because…nostalgia. Oh yeah, and the setting is like Grey Wardens and Weisshaupt, but Weisshaupt and only Grey Warden issues is silly and narrow. There needs to be more involvement from everyone in Thedas. (I like the return of the hero, but not yet)
· QUNARI INVASION!!! Because…actually I don’t know why that one. It doesn’t seem logical. They’d be open to attacks if they attempted to just move south at full speed…they may be superhuman physically, but the reason Tevinter Imperium was so large was because there were really no other organized enemies, except the elves. The amount of organization in the Dragon Age is just too much for any serious invasion to not be at least resisted. Besides, a huge war that’s chaotically ripping everything apart…been there, done that. There needs to be a new dynamic
· Continuation of the Inquisition, because yeah. And what I mean by “yeah” is “I just can’t think of anything else to do. INQUISITION-HO!!!” and that Inquisition is just the end of it. They forget that the first inquisition formed the Templars and seekers of the chantry. This inquisition is similarly going to end up in a different state from when it began: it must form either an order/organization or, perhaps, a new country.
· Evil Elves, because Solas is creepy. Apart from the obvious issues of cough cough where this will happen (Dales a little small and secluded, other areas seemingly infeasible). I must say that it is not impossible to make DA smaller, but not when things like Elder Scrolls are the comparison. Either they’ll keep their current “here are 20 sandboxes connected by a map” or they must accept an overworld of Skyrim-esque proportions, of which these kingdoms are not very capable, due to the relatively low density of settlements and features between regions; the Dales isn’t capable of either situation.
What do we need?
Well, it appears, for the time being, that the next game needs to be even bigger, to compare against other seemingly larger games, while maintaining the signature Bioware feel. How this can be achieved? I suggest two overworlds, as there are, after all, two such worlds; surface Thedas, and the entire system of Deep Roads beneath the surface. These overworlds can connect also regions that are distinct from mere buildings within an overworld combined with completely sealed-off cities (Skyrim), but not as a series of segment “places” connected together by “gather party-travel forth” or a point and click map (earlier Bioware, Witcher). All things must fluidly flow into each other: the entirety must be an “overworld”, without division, save for interactions/cutscenes (they have similar mechanics). The Deep Roads and Surface Thedas can provide this, as well as give a very easy solution to forming a story.
The story would be as follows: In the wake of DA:I, the powers of Darkspawn, while still quite numerous, fade and are no longer such a serious threat, even within the Deep Roads. Qunari make peace with northern humans by following arrangement: Qunari possession of Rivain guaranteed, with any expansion to be carried out in the Deep Roads below Thedas, involving claiming dwarven thaigs. Dwarves, meanwhile, under new leadership, also attempt to clear the deep Roads for the Reclamation of their thaigs. Meanwhile, rebel Elves, still facing rampant discrimination, also begin exploring and mapping the Deep Roads, using treaties with both dwarves and Qunari to gain access.
The event setting things off is a series of explosions, not large enough to destroy everything, but large enough that any wild darkspawn are alerted and the areas on the surface (most cities across all Thedas) are damged and shocked. The Darkspawn hordes are coming out of the holes in the ground, and causing panic. Our hero starts with such an incident, when he is hurt by the explosion; he wakes up under rubble to find his city overrun with darkspawn. Yada yada, etc. etc. the story really gets going afterwards when the three groups in the Deep roads blames each other for what happened, and the humans blame all three groups, leading to open conflict all over the Deep Roads and Thedas. Cue the Free-For-All.
There must be a DA5 for a single reason: to unite our hero from DA4 with the Warden, Hawke, and the Inquisitor, and have all characters playable so that, yes, you can have a full hero-party. You will also choose which hero is your main character for the game at the beginning, with several origins to play based on the uploaded tapestry online. This will begin a large game with a negative ending ala “Empire Strikes Back” style, similar in scope to DA4. This, in turn, will begin a trilogy; the second game (DA6) will comprise itself like DAII, a series of confined stories within spaces based on the actions of companions and heroes from the previous games, with a final uniting of characters chapter that ends the game. The last game (DA7) will return to all the size and scope of DA4&5, with the old Bioware compartmentalized “map to fast travel” feature, but to include the Northern hemisphere of the World.
Some things that will be fleshed out with the series as a whole:
· Equivalency of Elven Gods with Old Gods; all “Gods” could take human form when they passed through the fade, as well as dragon forms; they are shape-shifters. Kicked out of Golden city as dragons, those who went. All were made by Maker, as lesser, subordinate powers; fallen angels.
· Flemeth/Solas is chief enemy as they try to defy Maker and get Old gods together again to challenge for victory over Golden city in fade and establish dominion over the world.
· Etc.
All this is what I think should happen.
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