Dragon Age 4 + A Note About the Art on the Blog

So, I was originally going to post about this on Friday, this past week, but the trailer dropped right before we left for our August camping trip and I honestly didn’t have time. Which is what brings us here now. First, let me say that I am a 100% Loyal, Die-Hard Bioware fan. I tend to ignore EA’s involvement as far as micro-transactions go. Simply put – it doesn’t effect the EA games I play, namely Bioware. Now – I will also freely admit that I haven’t played Anthem yet. Not because I think it isn’t a good game. However, I do think it was a money grab and honestly, I already play a game that is like Anthem or rather, that Anthem’s like and it’s called Destiny. But anyway – let’s see if I can sum up my fan-girl-freak-out about Bioware.

I’ve been in it since Baldur’s Gate. I have many… many, many, many Wardens, Hawkes, Inquisitors. I have just as many Sheppards and just as many Ryders. I’ve easily got hundreds and hundreds of hours put into the Dragon Age series and probably just as many into Mass Effect. I have every Dragon Age book put out by Gaider and I have read, online, all of the manga/comics. And while I, of course, have many fan-theories that I prefer as opposed to canon and I, of course, don’t agree with every character decision that has been made, I still 100% support Bioware. I have zero problems waiting years for games and I want them to take their time. People can baulk all they want but when it comes to RPG games? Bioware’s writing blows all others out of the water. They create real inspiration in their players and give so many opportunities for creative relationships. And, you don’t have to jump on every single fan band wagon – and while I understand that there’s fan discord, there’s the issues of white washing – which has been data mined and proven, there’s the issue of POC characters being received differently by certain fans. I don’t think the writers, the ones who really make the series what it is, did any of those things. They weren’t the ones in control of those things. They couldn’t control how Vivienne would be received and they damn sure weren’t responsible for the coding of the game. But, I won’t get into that.

First, I must commend the artists that have done the concept art because it is awesome. And yes, it’s just concept art, so it’s not what we’re going to get but come on! That is some seriously awesome stuff. And I must, absolutely must, thank Bioware from the bottom of my heart for giving us the glimpses of in-progress game footage. You can see how rough it is in certain areas and they damn sure didn’t have to give us this sneak peak that is easily at least a year or more ahead of when we can even dream of getting the game (I’m being severely generous to us fans here). So, here are a few of my thoughts…. but be forewarned, I’m not a Solasmancer. I think he’s a villain, I don’t like the way he treats Lavellan, especially a romanced Lavellan and honestly? I don’t see the draw. Yes, I love his cadence and the way he speaks, his voice actor is amazing but him as a character? Even as complex as he is? Nope. Not a huge fan, but I can respect how well written he is. He’s an amazing character but I’m not team-Solas. So, with that in mind….

• Davin. WARDENS. –Deep breath.- I am a huge warden fan and I think they, by far, have the most interesting lore. Yes, elves are amazing and yada yada yada but come on! I already know I’m going to like his character, already. Super excited about him.
• Bellaria – Her lines sound like she’s going to be a shaper or at the very least, a dwarf. Because it sounds like she’s talking about a titan with the whole good kind of rumble thing.
• Also, TITANS. Yeaaaaasssss!!! Finally, we get to see these guys because yes. Yes. Though, the one I saw, or at least what I think it was does seem a bit comical so far but maybe that’s the look they’re going for since this one wasn’t corrupted yet? Or maybe I’m totally off here, who knows.
• Solas – that line. YAAAAASSS. Like I said, I’m not a “zomg let’s love Solas back to the good side!” But, I can appreciate his character and I do see him as a worthy adversary if that makes sense and that line? YAAAAAAS Man! Bring. It. On!
• The worlds! It looks like we’re totally going to Tevinter, which we already knew but also it looks like we’re finally going to be going back to more Dwarven places and that is just so cool.
• WARDENS! Again – I cannot stress this enough. I am hoping we get to learn more about them in game – for those who haven’t read the books.
• “What it’s like to play a character who doesn’t have any power.” HOLY HELL! Did anyone else hear current events being echoed there because I sure as shit did. Aside from that and without getting political, this is going to be so cool. I wonder how many starts we’re going to get? Human, dwarf, elf, qunari, and what else is there? Maybe different kinds of humans? Like Origins! OH YES, that would be great. That was something that was sorely missing and I really hope that they can tie up some loose ends that Trespasser still didn’t address like WHAT HAPPENED TO WHOEVER WAS LEFT IN THE FADE! Because it was never explicitly said that they died. And PLEASE come on, let us see our warden again! It’d be awesome to be like “here’s our warden, here’s our hawke (if still alive) and here’s our inquisitor” for the final battle or something, that would be so cool. Also – it’d be awesome if like your character secretly does have power but doesn’t know it or something along those lines.

The possibilities are obviously endless this early in the information-gathering phase of a game’s trailer dropping but this is so excited. I cannot wait, it’s going to be so much fun.

Note About The Art:

So, I've been going back and adding some of my art to each post, honestly - just to break up the text a bit. Sometimes it's relevant to the post, sometimes it's not. I try to make it so but meh. Anyway, there you go. All the art featured here is mine unless otherwise stated, I'll be adding links to my Redbubble and Deviant Art above here shortly.