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The Lady of Iron "Vivienne", OXM reveals next companion Sera, and Alistair Returns. Welcome
back, my name is Ashe. Let's talk Dragon Age.
The Bioware blog is featuring this week Madame de fer, the Imperial Chanter we know as Vivienne.
Much of her personality is illustrated, in words and her elaborate and grand attire.
She is an impassioned mage, devoted to seeing that what she desires is accomplished. Something
very poignant in one of the posts is a defiance against those who would, quoted, "conscript
her into a rebellion with which she disagrees". While it is unclear what fraternity within
the Circle of Magi she aligned herself previously to, it seems her personality is very self-sufficient,
self-reliant, and possibly a little self-serving. The complete posts, as well as a personal
feature by Bioware's senior artist Rion Swanson, is featured at blog.bioware.com.
In an awesome twist of events, Steve Valentine returned to voice Alistair, the famed King
and Warden (or dead man depending on how you played Origins). While the voice actor stated
he had not voiced Alistair for Inquisition back in February, Bioware swiftly picked him
back up to voice Alistair at Bioware. Whether Alistair's role was not implemented at first
or a pre-designed plan that got sped up by Valentine's public tweet is uncertain, but
I'm sure many Alistair fans are out there happy with open arms. And legs.
Alistair is one of the very few former companions and characters that have been confirmed beyond
Morrigan and Varric. Characters like Flemeth or Anders and Justice have yet to be addressed,
but the story allows for their continued presence in Inquisition and the future of the Dragon
Age.
In a post by a fan on the Bioware forums, details from the upcoming issue of Official
Xbox Magazine were revealed in wonderful TL;DR. As many of the Bioware staff are enjoying
and noting the many jokes within the article, it's rather safe to say this news is accurate.
Let's draw it out. Slowly.
Five regions in Inquisition will be playable in: Ferelden, The Free Marches, Orlais, Nevarra,
and the Dales. The environments will be massive, rivaling the scope we've seen the previous
games have, like Ferelden and Kirkwall. As mentioned in previous news, what actions the
Inquisitor takes will reflect in the environments, territories, and local settlements. Two locations
added to the must-see list are a war-torn region in Orlais and the Emerald Graves, an
elven burial ground. It's possible the Emerald Graves are in the Dales; most regions like
Orlais and Ferelden burn their dead. The only known people not to do so are Nevarrans, who
mummify their dead, and the Qunari who leave dead bodies alone.
As far as new companions, we finally know of Sera - the elven Archer we've come to know
from the concept art. Just like the reveal for the Iron Bull, barely anything is known
about the elf, however she apparently "turned up seemingly on accident during one of several
combat demonstrations". The companion list is now 2/3's revealed: Cassandra Pentaghast,
The Iron Bull, Solas, Vivienne, Varric, and Sera. The remaining companions have yet to
be announced. As far as DLC companions, it's not happening. Don't worry.
A prologue section will introduce the Inquisitor to the player, who will decide appearance,
class, and dialogue responses to shape the world state to how characters will respond
to you. Similar to Qunari having a negative image in the eyes of Free Marchers, or Orlesians
treating Elves as subservient. Bioware's also debating a voice pitch changer, something
we've seen in Saints Row, though hopefully less robotic sounding. Further, interacting
with characters in the game will be changed for clarity; David Gaider explains it best:
Dialogue interactions utilize three wheels: the tone wheel, for role-play choices, the
choice wheel, for taking action or a stance, and the reaction wheel, for emotional moments
... like romancing.
As far as customization goes, let's make it simple. If you want to wear battle armor as
a mage, you now can. If you want to wear a mage dress as a warrior, you can. Penalties
may exist for wearing armor not suited for your class, like wearing heavy armor as a
wimpy mage, but the option is there for the taking.
And let's not forget the bees - you can throw a jar of bees. It's not a joke. BEES.
That being said, the last and most important thing (at least to this viewer) is Bioware's
claim of 40 possible endings for Inquisition. HOLD IT - before you start typing in the comments,
because I know you want to say something, let me finish. 40 possible endings, that executive
producer Mark Darrah says will not have "only slight degrees of variation between them".
What this could mean is a lot of things - we could see similar to the epilogue we saw in
Origins where slides indicated each possibility. I highly doubt this next possibility, but
endings on-scale with Mass Effect Citadel's character interactions. Whatever we come to
see in Inquisition, 40 possible endings is very big. While a very big promise, let's
chill until we get to play the game. Shall we?
In any case, that's the end so far of this update. Subscribe for more Dragon Age news
coming to you on this channel. Like or dislike the vid - let me know what you think with
your positive or negative thoughts in the box below. Thanks for watching, guys and gals.
I'll see you next time.