3. The Name Says It All!
The new title, in case you were too excited to get that far into the article's title, is Dragon Age 3: Inquisitor. First, let me remind you that Dragon Age 2's unofficial subtitle was "nothing happens", so we're already a step up from that. That isn't really the point, though. Inquisitor implies something that fans of the DA series will immediately assume is awesome, a game that finally exploits the religious undertones of the game.
How does this change things? The Dragon Age series has been a really fun one (and by series I mean Origins), but it hasn't been all that creative. The universe BioWare used to build Dragon Age was populated by all the same people with all the same traits we had seen before. Sure, there were a few twists but the characters were mostly the same. Dwarves lived underground and hated outsiders, elves were naturally forest people and in tune with nature, humans lived in big castles and pissed on everyone else, orcs were bad, dragons were even more badderer. There really were only two unique aspects to the game, The Chantry and The Circle of Magi. Unlike previous fantasy games, in the DA universe, the religious cast rules over the mages in an extreme fashion, taking them from their families as children and locking them up in a tower forever. Other than this one thing, the game's universe was pretty run of the mill (except for the one twist at the end of Origins, which I WILL NOT spoil for people who haven't played it.) Yet, neither Dragon Age: Origins or Dragon Age 2 (:Mission to Nowhere) really capitalized on that creative spark.
Get the Klenex, cuz here it comes... If DA3's name implies what I assume it implies, then players will finally be allowed to play through what has the potential to be the most compelling story in recent RPG history. Think about it. New Vegas? Awesome game, crap story. Fallout 3? Awesome game, same story as Fallout 2....like exact same story. Dragon Age: Origins? Good guy kills dragon, saves world, everyone lives in modest Medieval poverty. Not exactly groundbreaking. Cthullu Saves The World? OK, that one was actually a pretty good story. BUT, that does not change that a game which allows players to live through a religious inquisition into the use of magic would be the most surreal story ever. Now, that is giving a lot of credit to BioWare's writers (they deserve it). But, I struggle to see how it could be anything short of amazing. Think about the inquisitions that just come to mind offhand. The Spanish Inquisition, transposed into Dragon Age would be nothing short of a gut wrenching tale of fear, hate, and survival. The Salem Witch trials, similarly would make an amazing lone survivor story in which magic, having died out, is now hunted down and persecuted without question. Pardon my French, but Je veux jouer ce jeu vidéo putain.