How will DA4 start?

Not a fan of protagonists with sudden super special powers... Especially not a voice in your head. SAM in MEA was such a terrible implementation, anything that sounds even remotely alike will make me pull a face these days.

I want another Hawke/Shepard. A hero of extraordinary willpower and talent who inspires people by example. Hard work and sacrifice make the best heroes. Doesn't matter if the hero was a nobody or a prince, as long as they are special in strength of character foremost.

I'd like the game to start with the conflict between Tevinter and the Quanri already raging again. Or rather just having begun or starting in the course of the prologue. I would be OK with the protagonist being either a minor noble whose life gets turned upside down or a slave who gets to break free during the chaos.

If we get different races again the prologue will have to render the origin meaningless. The hero might again be forced into an organization of some kind. Probably fighting the Qunari back.

In any case, I would much welcome a game darker in tone like DAO or DA2. A war breaking out at some point. But this time it's not darkspawn but the qunari or even the ancient elves. Preferably both, ideally a double plot like DAI. Maybe the qunari can be rallied to stop Solas? Common enemy, you know.

I'd like the game to spend considerable time on showing us Tevinter society, the good, the bad and the truly ugly. Spending some time in the prologue depicting everyday life could be nice. But a long prologue is not a requirement. Longer than DAI's "you're the savior of mankind within 5 min because glowing hand" would be nice though.

Well, as I said, for a proposition such as getting rid of the veil, basically ending the world as we know it, I don't think it's unfeasible to assume that 10+ years are required to even get close, even for a guy klike Solas. I mean, there is no right or wrong answer there. The timeframe will be whatever the writers want it to be.



I never minded SAM much (except for when he goes on my nerves about temperatures ) but I was actually more thinking about the the, what was it? A dragon spirit? that you carry around with you in Divinity 2: Eog Draconis. Though I didn't imagine this spirit to be like her either. It would have to be it's own thing. And yea, I agree, one would need to be careful, not to tirn this into an Anders situation.
I do like the idea of having such an inner voice though. The idea was that it would basically always provide a counter opinion to what it is you do and that you can shape it through your interactions. It could be a form of counseling friend or really a demon of doubt, depending on your perspective and you responses. I'd suggest that you could even roleplay your character (through dialogue) to go almost mad because of it (in an extreme case). But as I wrote, it wouldn't possess you like it was with Anders and Justice. It wouldn't manifest outside of your head. In fact, there might be NPCs/companions (maybe even most of them) that question whether this thing is real or if you are not quite right in the head, maybe even yourself question that.
 Also, being a spirit of curiosity, it could be a nice gameplay mechanism for exploration. No longer a symbol-infected minimap but a spirit, giving you hints as to where interesting stuff might be in the world.

The game starts with seeing a person walking up a high hill in an unknown location. As the camera moves in, the player will see that its Solas. He's carrying something under his arm. Once he's at the top, he uncovers the item. It looks very similar to the orb seen in DAI. He grabs the item. He takes one last look at the surrounding area. He closes his eyes for a few moments, then in one swift move, he throws his arms in the air, with the item in his grasp, and yells, "ABRACADABRA". On its own, the item rises high in the air. Lightning bolts from everywhere strike it. After a moment, the item explodes that knocks Solas to the ground. Once he gets his bearings, he finds the result is not what he hope for. The look on his face speaks a thousand words as he looks to the ground. The screen will go fade-to-black into the character creator.
Note: The above could also be the ending of the da game that leads into the next da game after this one.

The beginning will go back to the scene between the Inquisitor and Solas. After Solas does his magic hand thingy, when holding the Inquisitors arm, the scene will move into a narration with scenes of the Inquisitor.
"Inquisitor. A woman/man that lost an arm. Everyone. We can rebuild that arm. We have the know how. We have the capability to be the first in Thedas to this. Inquisitor will be that man/woman. Better, stronger, faster." It will be narrated by AWR(Alix Wilton Regan) excellent.
The narration will be similar to the intro to a tv show in the '70's



A scene shows 4 horse riders galloping in a forest to an unknown location. All wearing a cape with a hood. They approach what look's to be a tavern. One rider enters while the other three stay outside. Inside a few patrons are enjoying a pint or two, maybe three . The individual walks to the back to a room. Once inside, the player sees the Inquisitor sitting at a table. The individual pulls back the hood to reveal his/her looks, and introduces him/herself. The Inquisitor tells you what you're being hired to do. Track down the whereabouts of Solas. Throughout the game, the Inquisitor will make cameos to update the main character that will help in finding Solas. The character heads back to his cohorts and tells them that they're to travel to Tevinter to start their search.

The return of origins stories is one of the things I want most, especially if we get to play as qunari that isn't/wasn't a tal-vashot and now that we get to play most likely in Tevinter, we need a good introduction to their society, but a qunari protagonist would be really difficult to pull off, at least if they Bioware want something well done.
That  and I also prefer a slow prologue to define the main character, instead of a total blank state

Anyway, I liked OP's idea that the Inquisition has an elven spy and that's the first contact of the protagonist with the inquisition, but I rather that the elf dies than becoming a companion. I'm kinda tired of the trope that the senior member of the group steps aside and accepts that the protagonist is now the leader: Alistair, Cassandra, Cora...

That or it was just a temporary companion and gives goodbye after the prologue or occasional quest giver.

Hopefully they will bring back origin stories.  Like an elven slave who escapes from a Tevinter Magister.  Or the human son or daughter of said magister.  A Qunari who is apart of the invasion force.  Those are just some ideas.

I like everything about this idea.

Two thumbs up.


  

If they do do that, I definitely agree the face should be obscured, like they are wearing a cloak or something. Sort of like how in ME2 Shepard was wearing a helmet that obscured their face until you entered the CC. 

Whatever it is I hope the game starts quiet and leads to a big tumultuous event after some quiet moments to world build and let us form attachments to our character before the action starts. I know it’s the cool thing now to start off right away with the drama, but in an RPG I find it really, really helpful to have some dialogue centric moments that establish the setting so I can start building a vision and attachment for my protagonist. I find it hard to respond to stressful or dramatic moments with out establishing my character first, and so there is a bit of a barrier that goes up and I feel less invested in my character. After the first playthrough it gets easier but i’d rather be super invested from the get go.

So start with CC and then lead to a “10 minute” calm before the storm in which I can establish and relate to my character.

This si something I never understood really. This problem exists for over a decade now and the solution is so simple: Just let us move the light source (or the character model relative to the light source in the CC. I do not understand why this has not been a standard for many years now. Instead it's not even implemented in any game I've played. Really hope some devs will pick up on this in the near future because I agree, bad lighting in the CC is really annoying.

I’m sure if the Inquisition is involved, the Inquisitor would be quite distant. The vast majority of our agents in DA:I never met us. We certainly wouldn’t be a requisition officer or one of those poor sods that finds the random chest of loot in each map. If we were an agent, we’d probably be a contact in northern Thedas, proxying most of our interactions through Charter rather than reporting directly to the top. Leliana had loads of those people who never showed up onscreen.

Plus, the Inquisitor will be too busy sexting Dorian and running around with the Red Jennies to do Inquisition business.

I want mixed background options.  If I pick Human mage I don;t want to be noble automatically.  Something like
1.  Pick Race.
2. Pick social Class.
3. pick urban or rural
4. pick native or outsider.
6. pick class.