27 réponses à ce sujet

[Danny Boy 7]

So I was thinking about Dragon Age again today when I started to think about party composition. It’s something that might not interest everybody by name alone, but it’s actually a really crucial element when speculating about future BioWare and Dragon Age titles.

 

You see there are a number of reoccurring themes in party composition that have shown up, especially in Dragon Age titles. In almost all subsequent titles following Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, (the only outlier being Mass Effect which doesn’t follow even an internal consistency) with Dragon Age being the most consistent, you can almost perfectly set up what type of companions will show up; how many, their gender and whether or not they are human.

 

The reason for this could really be anything. The developers might be comfortable with 8 followers as a minimum with 10 as the absolute maximum. Voice budget may require only 8-10 as it’s hard to have characters with that many lines and be capable of interacting with all of their party members. Maybe BioWare decided that for their games peak variety is between 8 and 10. I even played around with the idea that maybe a lead designer had used it, everyone liked it and have stuck with it since.

Suffice it to say that I didn’t expect to see this much, for lack of a better term, predictability in the party composition. I’m not faulting BioWare for that because it clearly works, but they do a lot of the same things…which I will now share.

 

The Fellowship of the Game

As mentioned earlier BioWare tends to have a party makeup of 8 to 10 followers. Now mind you the total number in any one playthrough is actually 8 or 9 because the tenth follower tends to be an optional character tied to a choice. Alistair/Loghain from Origins and Bethany/Carver from Dragon Age II are prime examples of this potential tenth character. You’re only ever going to see one or the other as a part of your permanent party.

 

The tenth character also happens to be DLC from time to time, though with Inquisition this trend might be over and we’ll likely never have a tenth companion again. Also understand that I’m not talking about temporary followers such as Eleanor Cousland or Tamlen.

 

You can see this trend in KOTOR, which had a total of nine followers. You can see it with Jade Empire (many will note that while Zin Bu is a “follower” he is a non-combat follower and may or may not be discounted). In Dragon Age: Origins there was a total of 9 companions at any given time (including Shale and Dog). Dragon Age II at peak numbers has 8 companions, though the Dog could be considered a pseudo companion (as he doesn’t follow the player and there is some question to whether he is in fact a pet I chose to leave him out.)

Note: In this analysis I did not include DLC accept as far as seeing trends between Origins and Awakening. I also did not accept Star Wars: The Old Republic because the game needed to work with a different budget and accomplish different things.

 

Race and Gender

One of the first trends I noticed among Dragon Age games and was a little surprised to see in a lot of other BioWare titles was how the breakdown in gender occurred. Except for one occurrence there has never been a female majority team going as far back KOTOR. In the exception a player must have saved Ashley in Mass Effect 1 or started a game of Mass Effect 3 as a male and then talk her down during the major moment on the Citadel.

In gender breakdowns the number of women per party tends to be 3-4.

§  KOTOR: Mission, Bastila, Juhani

§  Jade Empire: Dawn Star, Silk Fox, Wild Flower

§  Origins: Morrigan, Leliana, Wynne, Shale (Previously Female, though identifies as non-gendered)

§  DA2: Aveline, Merrill, Isabela, Bethany (Optional)

§  Inquisition;  Cassandra, Sera, Vivienne

 

Men then tend to fall into the remaining 5-6 party slots, though 1 to 2 can be taken by non-gendered animals, machines or aliens.

Why women tend to have fewer places in the party is a mystery. I’m not inclined to condemn BioWare for any prejudice considering they tend to place women in major roles throughout the games and generally are trying to be more progressive.

 

Moving on to race, and by race I mean human, elf, etc, I’m sure it comes to no surprise to anyone that humans tend to be the majority in party composition. Some games solely feature humans, whilst others like KOTOR feature both aliens and robots/droids which tends to throw off the numbers. As far as Dragon Age games go the breakdown is similar to the breakdown between gender, 3 to 4 and 5 to 6 for non-humans (elves, dwarves, Qunari) and humans respectively.

 

Why this is the case may have to do with technical limitations such as cinematics or rigging. From a story point of view humans tend to be neutral as far as social class and position in Thedas. So Vivienne’s story can focus on the fact that she is a mage, rather than an elven mage who would have to explain or make mention of the fact that he or she is an elf living within the Circle.

 

A fun little, “Did ya know,” is the fact that outside of temporary companions the elves, dwarves and Qunari were totally made up of male characters. Zevran, Sten and Oghren (more so the latter two) were our first in-depth looks at their respective races. Awakening would provide the first female non-humans with Sigrun and Velanna and Merrill would be the first main series party member in DA2.

 

Other

A minor addition would be the breakdown of returning followers and characters within the party.

§  Origins to Awakening: 1 (Oghren)

§  Origins +DLC to Dragon Age II: 3 ½ (Anders/Justice, Merrill, Isabela)

§  Dragon Age II to Inquisition: 2 ½ (Cassandra/Varric/Cole [appeared in the Dragon Age: Asunder novel])

So as you can see BioWare tends to refrain from bringing back more than one follower, but they are not afraid to use old characters or tie characters from ancillary plots into the story.

 

Conclusion

So you made it all the way through. Thanks for taking the time to read through this. I want to remind everyone that while there are certainly patterns BioWare isn’t necessarily beholden to continuing them. With the recent changes to Lead Writer some things might just change due to style. That said, I really do think this is a nice resource to use in speculating what the Dragon Age IV party will look like.

 

TL;DR? BioWare’s followers (outside of Mass Effect) tend to have reoccurring themes in party composition. The number of followers includes 8 to 10 total companions. The average number of women is 3, with an optional 4^th and elves, dwarves and Qunari fill up around 3 to 4 slots per team (closer to three). Finally, returning followers have been limited to 1, but NPCs turned followers are typical and is anywhere from 1 or 2.

 

This is a good resource for speculation and may be helpful when trying to narrow the parameters of party composition.

 

So let me know what you all think.

[nightscrawl]

A fun little, “Did ya know,” is the fact that outside of temporary companions the elves, dwarves and Qunari were totally made up of male characters. Zevran, Sten and Oghren (more so the latter two) were our first in-depth looks at their respective races. Awakening would provide the first female non-humans with Sigrun and Velanna and Merrill would be the first main series party member in DA2.

I disagree with this in regard to the elves and dwarves in DAO. That game had the origins, so the actual first in-depth look was with the elf or dwarf origin story. Also, Oghren is warrior caste, so that view is one-sided and he has no perspective on the casteless. Zevran has no perspective on the Dalish, and I'd also argue that his perspective as a city elf is also skewed because of his specific circumstances. I'd say that the dwarf noble and casteless origin, along with the Dalish and city elf origin are the most authentic look at either one, far more in-depth than anything either follower provides.

[vertigomez]

Well, they've always said that Dragon Age is the story of Thedas, so it makes sense to me that we'd have a unique group of followers from all sorts of backgrounds, with wildly divergent opinions. They throw a concept out there and build a character around it - mysterious witch, runaway slave, Dalish pariah, etc.

It would be nice if the party composition had fewer humans next time around, or at least humans from backgrounds you wouldn't immediately expect... an Avvar, perhaps, or a Chasind wilder.

I would like to see a traditionalist dwarf companion who's not primarily a comic relief character (...looking at you, Oghren). Someone like Korbin or Renn or Valta. We haven't had the perspective of a dwarf who loves the culture they came from, really. It's mostly surfacers or casteless who have every reason to hate their homeland.

Also, a qunari (as in the race) character who starts off as Tal-Vashoth would be nice, since we've had a qunari diehard and someone who can possibly go rogue over the course of the game. I would love to see discussions/arguments between a big grey horned defector and a viddathari loyalist!

[vertigomez]

Zevran has no perspective on the Dalish, and I'd also argue that his perspective as a city elf is also skewed because of his specific circumstances.

I agree with the city elf bit, because he (like Fenris) sort of dismisses the whole alienage culture. But Zev's mother was Dalish and he talks about how he lived among them for a time, before deciding it wasn't for him. He talks about how they're a proud people.

Still not the same as someone like Merrill or Velanna, but it's there. If you squint.

[nightscrawl]

I agree with the city elf bit, because he (like Fenris) sort of dismisses the whole alienage culture. But Zev's mother was Dalish and he talks about how he lived among them for a time, before deciding it wasn't for him. He talks about how they're a proud people.

Still not the same as someone like Merrill or Velanna, but it's there. If you squint.

 

Ah, I forgot that he lived among them for a time.

[Danny Boy 7]

I disagree with this in regard to the elves and dwarves in DAO. That game had the origins, so the actual first in-depth look was with the elf or dwarf origin story. Also, Oghren is warrior caste, so that view is one-sided and he has no perspective on the casteless. Zevran has no perspective on the Dalish, and I'd also argue that his perspective as a city elf is also skewed because of his specific circumstances. I'd say that the dwarf noble and casteless origin, along with the Dalish and city elf origin are the most authentic look at either one, far more in-depth than anything either follower provides.

Well in my defense there is a strong possibility that for most people Zevran or Oghren were the first introductions to at least one of the other cultures, that or people quit after the origin and played the others before moving on with the rest of the game. I might say they're good introductions into the the social status of each race, but Zevran tends to introduce Antiva more than anything.

 

I will agree that the origins chronologically provide the first look and will also agree that they provide an in depth look, but I disagree that Oghren has no perspective, just that his perspective is largely the norm, Dwarves don't think about casteless unless they're in their faces. 

[AlanC9]

Note that DAI has one companion per specialization. I'm not sure how that came about, but it is a useful thing for Bio since a player can see all the specialization skill trees in the standard interface.

[Danny Boy 7]

Well, they've always said that Dragon Age is the story of Thedas, so it makes sense to me that we'd have a unique group of followers from all sorts of backgrounds, with wildly divergent opinions. They throw a concept out there and build a character around it - mysterious witch, runaway slave, Dalish pariah, etc.

It would be nice if the party composition had fewer humans next time around, or at least humans from backgrounds you wouldn't immediately expect... an Avvar, perhaps, or a Chasind wilder.

I would like to see a traditionalist dwarf companion who's not primarily a comic relief character (...looking at you, Oghren). Someone like Korbin or Renn or Valta. We haven't had the perspective of a dwarf who loves the culture they came from, really. It's mostly surfacers or casteless who have every reason to hate their homeland.

Also, a qunari (as in the race) character who starts off as Tal-Vashoth would be nice, since we've had a qunari diehard and someone who can possibly go rogue over the course of the game. I would love to see discussions/arguments between a big grey horned defector and a viddathari loyalist!

I think the only difficulty there is that a diehard would never want to leave the Deep Roads which is why we tend to get surfacers and why I imagine we'll have a lot more Tal'Vashoth than we will regular Sten-esque Qunari. 

 

It's interesting because these companions will have to embody certain themes of the story and as we learn more about the story we'll be better able to pick out who could be a follower.

 

For instance Scout Harding is almost certainly going to be a part of the story. Now what part will she play? Will she be a follower? If so that leaves us with 2-3 female companion slots and the same amount of elf, dwarf and Qunari slots. If she is a romance that means that only one more female follower will be a romance because they have never made all three female character romance options. Wynne wasn't, Bethany and Aveline weren't and Vivienne wasn't. If she is an advisor that opens up room romantically to be like Josephine, but then we're nowhere follower wise. 

[Danny Boy 7]

Note that DAI has one companion per specialization. I'm not sure how that came about, but it is a useful thing for Bio since a player can see all the specialization skill trees in the standard interface.

Absolutely. It's interesting because they didn't do this for the two previous games. In Origins at least one specialization was held by no follower and some were gained by choices in game. DA2 had all companions (except for Carver and Bethany) with unique specializations. I think it was a reaction to how unimportant specializations were for Hawke in DA2. Not bashing the game, but that was a complaint that BioWare seemingly wanted to fix (making specialization more important).

 

I suspect they're going to keep going with 3 followers per class, but that really could go one way or the other. They haven't been consistent on that front. It's kind of required of the combat system though I think? What with no healer you need mages to do different things and having three allows you to do that.

[nightscrawl]

Absolutely. It's interesting because they didn't do this for the two previous games. In Origins at least one specialization was held by no follower and some were gained by choices in game. DA2 had all companions (except for Carver and Bethany) with unique specializations. I think it was a reaction to how unimportant specializations were for Hawke in DA2. Not bashing the game, but that was a complaint that BioWare seemingly wanted to fix (making specialization more important).

 

I suspect they're going to keep going with 3 followers per class, but that really could go one way or the other. They haven't been consistent on that front. It's kind of required of the combat system though I think? What with no healer you need mages to do different things and having three allows you to do that.

 

There are a couple of advantages for the three follower per class "rule." This isn't required, of course, but the first is that the player has a greater chance of liking 1/3 of a given group, leading them to want to bring them along. The second is for plot and follower approval reasons, as it leaves extra party members in the case of abandonment (Solas), or follower death, so the player is never without a given role.

[vertigomez]

I think the only difficulty there is that a diehard would never want to leave the Deep Roads which is why we tend to get surfacers and why I imagine we'll have a lot more Tal'Vashoth than we will regular Sten-esque Qunari.

Sorry, I said traditionalist when I should have said traditional. Someone - again, like Korbin - who has a reason to be on the surface, but who's grown up in the cultural milieu of Orzammar, who venerates the Ancestors and the Stone. Someone we can talk to about the caste system. (With Dorian, for instance, you can question him about his views on slavery in Tevinter, and how normalized it is. I would like to have a similar conversation concerning the casteless!)

All we got from Oghren was, "I'd rather die than be casteless in Orzammar. No offense."

edit: I mean, ofc, someone who is not casteless themselves. Varric, Harding, Sigrun, Dagna...

For instance Scout Harding is almost certainly going to be a part of the story. Now what part will she play? Will she be a follower? If so that leaves us with 2-3 female companion slots and the same amount of elf, dwarf and Qunari slots. If she is a romance that means that only one more female follower will be a romance because they have never made all three female character romance options. Wynne wasn't, Bethany and Aveline weren't and Vivienne wasn't. If she is an advisor that opens up room romantically to be like Josephine, but then we're nowhere follower wise.

I would love for Harding to be a follower and a romance, but at this point... I mean, the next game is such an unknown that I don't know how plausible that is. But if that were the case, I can see how she'd play the Girl Next Door to a more worldly option. Who knows, we might even get another relative as a companion?

I do think it'd be nice if they switched it up and had more female characters than male in the cast for a change. Like Avatar: the Last Airbender did for a while...

[UniformGreyColor]

So I was thinking about Dragon Age again today when I started to think about party composition. It’s something that might not interest everybody by name alone, but it’s actually a really crucial element when speculating about future BioWare and Dragon Age titles.

 

You see there are a number of reoccurring themes in party composition that have shown up, especially in Dragon Age titles. In almost all subsequent titles following Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, (the only outlier being Mass Effect which doesn’t follow even an internal consistency) with Dragon Age being the most consistent, you can almost perfectly set up what type of companions will show up; how many, their gender and whether or not they are human.

 

The reason for this could really be anything. The developers might be comfortable with 8 followers as a minimum with 10 as the absolute maximum. Voice budget may require only 8-10 as it’s hard to have characters with that many lines and be capable of interacting with all of their party members. Maybe BioWare decided that for their games peak variety is between 8 and 10. I even played around with the idea that maybe a lead designer had used it, everyone liked it and have stuck with it since.

Suffice it to say that I didn’t expect to see this much, for lack of a better term, predictability in the party composition. I’m not faulting BioWare for that because it clearly works, but they do a lot of the same things…which I will now share.

 

The Fellowship of the Game

As mentioned earlier BioWare tends to have a party makeup of 8 to 10 followers. Now mind you the total number in any one playthrough is actually 8 or 9 because the tenth follower tends to be an optional character tied to a choice. Alistair/Loghain from Origins and Bethany/Carver from Dragon Age II are prime examples of this potential tenth character. You’re only ever going to see one or the other as a part of your permanent party.

 

The tenth character also happens to be DLC from time to time, though with Inquisition this trend might be over and we’ll likely never have a tenth companion again. Also understand that I’m not talking about temporary followers such as Eleanor Cousland or Tamlen.

 

You can see this trend in KOTOR, which had a total of nine followers. You can see it with Jade Empire (many will note that while Zin Bu is a “follower” he is a non-combat follower and may or may not be discounted). In Dragon Age: Origins there was a total of 9 companions at any given time (including Shale and Dog). Dragon Age II at peak numbers has 8 companions, though the Dog could be considered a pseudo companion (as he doesn’t follow the player and there is some question to whether he is in fact a pet I chose to leave him out.)

Note: In this analysis I did not include DLC accept as far as seeing trends between Origins and Awakening. I also did not accept Star Wars: The Old Republic because the game needed to work with a different budget and accomplish different things.

 

Race and Gender

One of the first trends I noticed among Dragon Age games and was a little surprised to see in a lot of other BioWare titles was how the breakdown in gender occurred. Except for one occurrence there has never been a female majority team going as far back KOTOR. In the exception a player must have saved Ashley in Mass Effect 1 or started a game of Mass Effect 3 as a male and then talk her down during the major moment on the Citadel.

In gender breakdowns the number of women per party tends to be 3-4.

§  KOTOR: Mission, Bastila, Juhani

§  Jade Empire: Dawn Star, Silk Fox, Wild Flower

§  Origins: Morrigan, Leliana, Wynne, Shale (Previously Female, though identifies as non-gendered)

§  DA2: Aveline, Merrill, Isabela, Bethany (Optional)

§  Inquisition;  Cassandra, Sera, Vivienne

 

Men then tend to fall into the remaining 5-6 party slots, though 1 to 2 can be taken by non-gendered animals, machines or aliens.

Why women tend to have fewer places in the party is a mystery. I’m not inclined to condemn BioWare for any prejudice considering they tend to place women in major roles throughout the games and generally are trying to be more progressive.

 

Moving on to race, and by race I mean human, elf, etc, I’m sure it comes to no surprise to anyone that humans tend to be the majority in party composition. Some games solely feature humans, whilst others like KOTOR feature both aliens and robots/droids which tends to throw off the numbers. As far as Dragon Age games go the breakdown is similar to the breakdown between gender, 3 to 4 and 5 to 6 for non-humans (elves, dwarves, Qunari) and humans respectively.

 

Why this is the case may have to do with technical limitations such as cinematics or rigging. From a story point of view humans tend to be neutral as far as social class and position in Thedas. So Vivienne’s story can focus on the fact that she is a mage, rather than an elven mage who would have to explain or make mention of the fact that he or she is an elf living within the Circle.

 

A fun little, “Did ya know,” is the fact that outside of temporary companions the elves, dwarves and Qunari were totally made up of male characters. Zevran, Sten and Oghren (more so the latter two) were our first in-depth looks at their respective races. Awakening would provide the first female non-humans with Sigrun and Velanna and Merrill would be the first main series party member in DA2.

 

Other

A minor addition would be the breakdown of returning followers and characters within the party.

§  Origins to Awakening: 1 (Oghren)

§  Origins +DLC to Dragon Age II: 3 ½ (Anders/Justice, Merrill, Isabela)

§  Dragon Age II to Inquisition: 2 ½ (Cassandra/Varric/Cole [appeared in the Dragon Age: Asunder novel])

So as you can see BioWare tends to refrain from bringing back more than one follower, but they are not afraid to use old characters or tie characters from ancillary plots into the story.

 

Conclusion

So you made it all the way through. Thanks for taking the time to read through this. I want to remind everyone that while there are certainly patterns BioWare isn’t necessarily beholden to continuing them. With the recent changes to Lead Writer some things might just change due to style. That said, I really do think this is a nice resource to use in speculating what the Dragon Age IV party will look like.

 

TL;DR? BioWare’s followers (outside of Mass Effect) tend to have reoccurring themes in party composition. The number of followers includes 8 to 10 total companions. The average number of women is 3, with an optional 4^th and elves, dwarves and Qunari fill up around 3 to 4 slots per team (closer to three). Finally, returning followers have been limited to 1, but NPCs turned followers are typical and is anywhere from 1 or 2.

 

This is a good resource for speculation and may be helpful when trying to narrow the parameters of party composition.

 

So let me know what you all think.

 

You left out Leliana. Other than that, nice work.

[Danny Boy 7]

Sorry, I said traditionalist when I should have said traditional. Someone - again, like Korbin - who has a reason to be on the surface, but who's grown up in the cultural milieu of Orzammar, who venerates the Ancestors and the Stone. Someone we can talk to about the caste system. (With Dorian, for instance, you can question him about his views on slavery in Tevinter, and how normalized it is. I would like to have a similar conversation concerning the casteless!)

All we got from Oghren was, "I'd rather die than be casteless in Orzammar. No offense."

edit: I mean, ofc, someone who is not casteless themselves. Varric, Harding, Sigrun, Dagna...


I would love for Harding to be a follower and a romance, but at this point... I mean, the next game is such an unknown that I don't know how plausible that is. But if that were the case, I can see how she'd play the Girl Next Door to a more worldly option. Who knows, we might even get another relative as a companion?

I do think it'd be nice if they switched it up and had more female characters than male in the cast for a change. Like Avatar: the Last Airbender did for a while...

I mean if it makes you a little more positive Harding is a lot more likely than say Rylen or any of the multiplayer characters. What I mean to say is that there is actually a little bit more in favor of her returning than there is for anyone else. Only person I think will be a follower more than Harding is Dorian and that's because they made it a big point to have Dorian say "OH BTW HERE IS MY NUMBER, CALL ME IN CASE YOU NEED TO TRACK PEOPLE DOWN IN TEVINTER!!"

[Danny Boy 7]

You left out Leliana. Other than that, nice work.

You mean as a returning follower? I didn't necessarily count her because she was an advisor and that's outside the parameters of this tool.

 

Thank you very much for the compliment.

[nightscrawl]

I mean if it makes you a little more positive Harding is a lot more likely than say Rylen or any of the multiplayer characters. What I mean to say is that there is actually a little bit more in favor of her returning than there is for anyone else. Only person I think will be a follower more than Harding is Dorian and that's because they made it a big point to have Dorian say "OH BTW HERE IS MY NUMBER, CALL ME IN CASE YOU NEED TO TRACK PEOPLE DOWN IN TEVINTER!!"

 

Yeah... as great as the crystal is, it did feel a little obvious and forced in that regard.

[Danny Boy 7]

Yeah... as great as the crystal is, it did feel a little obvious and forced in that regard.

I mean even without it the fact that we're going to Tevinter tends to hint at his involvement, but they beat it over our head. Not complaining though I mean gives me some more evidence.

[vertigomez]

I mean if it makes you a little more positive Harding is a lot more likely than say Rylen or any of the multiplayer characters. What I mean to say is that there is actually a little bit more in favor of her returning than there is for anyone else. Only person I think will be a follower more than Harding is Dorian and that's because they made it a big point to have Dorian say "OH BTW HERE IS MY NUMBER, CALL ME IN CASE YOU NEED TO TRACK PEOPLE DOWN IN TEVINTER!!"

I don't actually think Dorian will be a companion. More like an important NPC. Like Meredith or Orsino (I hope I'm not jinxing him!) type of person who has the PC run errands because his position's too delicate for certain things.

I'm just confused about Harding. Vivienne's comments in Trespasser imply that the Inquisitor's little flirtationship with her is more srs than we thought, but she doesn't have a romance tile in the Keep. It's weird.

Yeah... as great as the crystal is, it did feel a little obvious and forced in that regard.

I like the fact that in Thedas, cell phones were invented before landlines.

[Danny Boy 7]

I don't actually think Dorian will be a companion. More like an important NPC. Like Meredith or Orsino (I hope I'm not jinxing him!) type of person who has the PC run errands because his position's too delicate for certain things.

I'm just confused about Harding. Vivienne's comments in Trespasser imply that the Inquisitor's little flirtationship with her is more srs than we thought, but she doesn't have a romance tile in the Keep. It's weird.


I like the fact that in Thedas, cell phones were invented before landlines.

You know enough people have been saying that to me that I should probably take that more into account, but UGH I just can't for some reason. I mean I'll go for advisor, but idk what other companion or character could fill that returning follower spot. I'll probably regret it, but I'll be surprised if Dorian isn't a follower (barring availability of the VA)

[nightscrawl]

I don't actually think Dorian will be a companion. More like an important NPC. Like Meredith or Orsino (I hope I'm not jinxing him!) type of person who has the PC run errands because his position's too delicate for certain things.

I'm just confused about Harding. Vivienne's comments in Trespasser imply that the Inquisitor's little flirtationship with her is more srs than we thought, but she doesn't have a romance tile in the Keep. It's weird.


I like the fact that in Thedas, cell phones were invented before landlines.

 

The current Keep doesn't really mean anything. They might add more tiles later on. There is also not a Dorian/Bull tile, but I don't think that is significant either. Also, the Keep only tracks what it can track right at this moment. It might not be currently able to check for a Harding romance, or a Dorian/Bull romance. Also, the Dorian/Bull would be a bit more complicated and require cross-checks [Inquisitor romance yes/no, Bull recruitment yes/no, Dorian recruitment yes/no, Bull Tal'Vashoth yes/no].

 

 

You know enough people have been saying that to me that I should probably take that more into account, but UGH I just can't for some reason. I mean I'll go for advisor, but idk what other companion or character could fill that returning follower spot. I'll probably regret it, but I'll be surprised if Dorian isn't a follower (barring availability of the VA)

 

Bioware has been really good about getting previous VAs, but yes, that is always a concern.

[UniformGreyColor]

I do have a question to you OP: What are the chances we get to see returning people as followers from games before DA:I? I mean, I can say myself I would be absolutely delighted to see a character like Ogren or Alistair make a return appearance.

[nightscrawl]

^ Since Oghren is a Warden, I can see that as a possibility, even if he might be dead. But Alistair? With his possible fate in DAI, I'm starting to think that there are too many variables for him. Also, there would be another scenario where he would have to be able to be replaced by someone for the various import states.

 

To be honest, I think one reason they might want to move away from Ferelden/Orlais is so we can leave a lot of that stuff behind and start somewhat fresh. I don't really expect a lot of cameos from previous games. I think we will have a smallish number of carryover from DAI -- Charter, Harding, Dorian, and Solas -- but that's it. Even those are not a guarantee, simply an assumption based on Trespasser.

[Gold Dragon]

Solas and Dorian should be in the next DA chapter, especially if in Tevinter.  Dorian, even if not recruited, returns and joins the party to replace Solas (so the player always has  a Mage, Rogue & Warrior available), And Tevinter is his home.  Party Member? Maybe. But in the next game that includes Tevinter.  (Or he gets killed offscreen, one).  One of the Devs said that Solas' storyarc will be concluded in next game, tho plans have a tendency to change......

[nightscrawl]

(Or he gets killed offscreen, one).

AHHH! Don't even think it! Take it back!!

[Danny Boy 7]

I do have a question to you OP: What are the chances we get to see returning people as followers from games before DA:I? I mean, I can say myself I would be absolutely delighted to see a character like Ogren or Alistair make a return appearance.

Well there isn't any precedent in Dragon Age for it. Mass Effect had Ashley/Kaidan/Liara, but like I mentioned there isn't any internal consistency among those parties. For Origins it is slim however. A lot of those characters can be dead twice over or in positions of very high influence. Sten is Arishok and Leliana can be Divine. Morrigan has a 1% chance of returning as a follower. Dragon Age 2..the surviving characters are Aveline, Isabela and Sebastian. The first and last follower wouldn't really have a lot to add, but Isabela could potentially be a follower. That is to say that there isn't anything barring her from being a companion like a death or high position. She also has a connection to the Qunari which might provide some cool insight.

 

So of all the companions I have to say that the people with the most potential are probably Morrigan and Isabela, but its a BIG stretch. I give them 2 and 5% respectively.

[Danny Boy 7]

I think Solas' chances of returning as a follower are almost zero. As the antagonist or a major NPC, 99% probability in my eyes.