Video Game Writers has a new opinion piece on Dragon Age 3. The writer explains in his view what Bioware should keep, and take out of the next installment.

The Dragon Age series has had two wildly different entries to date. They both have their strengths and weaknesses (I’m looking at you, Dragon Age II), but they’re still both enjoyable RPGs. Whether or not you hate being Hawke or you’re still pining after Alistair, there’s something in these games for everyone. With the third entry, Dragon Age III: Inquisition, on the horizon, it’s time to take a take a look at some of the things that BioWare should carry over, as well as those that should probably be left in the past.

Dragon Age III hasn’t received a release date yet, but we’ll likely see it early into the lives of the new consoles coming out this holiday season. BioWare is the Pixar of RPGs, and they need to recover from their Cars 2. Fingers crossed that Dragon Age III delivers when it finally hits.

BioWare has plans to reveal more information about Dragon Age III: Inquisition at the upcoming E3 2013. Think of this as the usual announcement of an announcement nonsense that seems to be all the rage lately.

Mike Laidlaw states via Twitter that, "I was unclear! Yes, there will be some DAIII at E3. Not just "stuff." DAIII stuff."

PC Gamer muses on what they want to see in Dragon Age 3. Here's a good observation:

Story And Game Integration. It also needs to actually play by its own rules. To pick one element, the Circle of Mages is an interesting idea in lore-terms, but one that the game routinely breaks over its knee by filling the world with blood mages on the grounds that mages are fun to fight, by having guards completely ignore you wandering around in a mage’s robe and holding a mage’s staff and having fireball battles in the streets of Kirkwall, and by the game simply not having the guts to instil spellcasting with the risk it’s supposed to have. Mages can be taken over by demons from the Fade at any point? Yeah, right. Not if they’re the player character of a 20+ hour RPG, they can’t.

This kind of thing simply breaks the fiction, and even if you can find some “But Elves Are Nymphomaniac Nudists In The Lore!” type justification, makes the world far less interesting than if Bioware had actually changed things. Some things can obviously be handwaved. Making the entire plot of Dragon Age 2 unsupported by Dragon Age 2 can’t. Dragon Age 3 needs to be built around the rules as established so far, rather than taking the easy road and hoping we just don’t notice.

BioWare artist Neil Thompson has told OXM UK he was disappointed with how Dragon Age 1 and 2 looked but the new Frostbite 2 engine looks "stunningly beautiful":

The Dragon Age artists were always slightly disappointed at how their work was visualised in the final product with Eclipse, but with Frostbite, they've just done some amazing stuff," he went on.

 

"There was a pre-production period where almost on a weekly basis I'd be sitting in the environment reviews and being blown away by what was coming out - it looks stunningly beautiful. So I think when we do start releasing screenshots, people won't be disappointed."

In Thompson's view, companion series Mass Effect is "the perfect example of a game that transcends its technology", using skilled visual design to hide or make a point of the limitations of the engine. By the sounds of it, Dragon Age 3's art direction is similarly ambitious.

"Can you make fantasy beautiful in a different way? We think we have something special for Dragon Age 3: Inquisition," he mused, adding that the game will shun the "subdued colour palette and harsh brown feel" typical of much current fantasy media.

A brief and image heavy wishlist has been setup by Game Informer.  Here's a snip:

New Archetypes

I’m not going to use this as an opportunity to rake Alistair or Anders across the coals, but the archetypes in your party could use a serious revamping. The Sensitive Male, the Tough Vamp, the Wisecracking Construct, the Alcoholic Dwarf – these can all be put to bed. Some concepts from the series have definitely stood out (I loved Justice), but fewer easy choices would help build a more sympathetic cast.

CouncChocula informed us of three new pieces of artwork from Dragon Age 3: Inquisition that can be inspected at the Bioware blog.

Kotaku reports some of the first details that emerged about Dragon Age 3: Inquisition. These details include full customization of the playing and non-playing characters and owning a castle. If that doesn't work out, they can always use it for a next Sims add-on I suppose.

Creative director Mike Laidlaw said that "customization is going to be bigger than Dragon Age Origins," to include "follower customization," according to producer Cameron Lee's live-tweeting of the event.

Asked how much control players would have over their character, lead writer David Gaider said "You will be human," before adding that "backgrounds will be in Dragon Age 3 even though you will be human, it's not playable but it does significant impact on the story." That again was according to Lee's twitter feed.