EA Play: DA4 WIP Art!

Same here and the sequence in the video was Tree, Archway, Heart, so it makes sense that it is a journey into the heart of Darkness.

I believe these are all part of the same area, mostly because the skybox in 1 and 2 looks like it’s the same to me. There’s also some glowing red growths on the left side of the tree in 1, so they all seem to have red lyrium. The castle in the background of 2 looks like the location for 3, which looks to have similar architecture to 2.

EDIT: The architecture can’t be seen well in 3, but 2 looks like the sort of old Ferelden castle architecture (Skyhold, Therinfal Redoubt) that we saw in DAI to me.

Eluvian travel means we could go to a lot of places outside the main regions of the game. It could be some sort of previously undiscovered Red Templar bade in Ferelden that has had something horrifying happen to it...

Glad to see something at least for DA4 at EA Play! It is a bit sad that 6 years after DAI all they have to show for DA4 is a few environment screenshots, though.

The images are few, but interesting (or maybe is just that the DA Fandom is so starved that anything can be interesting )
Anyway, the big red blob/heart...

I am thinking Anthem type quality, and imo that is a good thing,  Anthem was a step up in quality character wise and expressions and such.

- Not that there was any doubt, but a neat find...

Void Witch Green heart @danceanddestroy
IT IS DEFINITELY #DRAGONAGE #DA4

People have already pointed out that it's similar to deep mushrooms - so the protrusions are similar to already two different thing from two different games. Which are they then? If you intend to focus on details, then please don't just pay attention to one notable detail, but them all.

Neither Origins lyrium deposits or deep mushrooms grow out of a mass of root-like tangles, while we see a gnarly, root-like tangles in all three scenes*, including faintly-glowing root-vines (and they glow just like the base of glowing tendrils) choking a tree. In the scene with the gate we also see Blight-like sacks in the roots. So, whatever they are, both are likely related. IMO, the suggestion is that plants/roots themselves have been twisted and suggest something elf/ancient-elf related, given the connection of plants/roots to elves.

*(never mind for now that these are w-i-p and we have no idea whether such scenery or details will even show up in the final product)

The style looks Fereldan, but I wouldn't pay attention to the style as much as the suggestion of a massive, city-like location.

And we are 100% travelling via eluvians to many distant places. It's why they went through the arduous process of establishing them in the story in the first place: to allow us to travel to different locactions and not having to worry about pesky stuff like logistics, travel time or reaching previously unreachable places (like Crossroads or many ancient elvhen locations like Vir Dirthara).

That's what Trespasser was for - to introduce us to eluvians and eluvian travel (and ancient elves and Qunari), which is what we've been told, literally, by Patrick Weekes and John Epler during their GDC talk, in case the DLC wasn't explicit enough about "stuff you will very likely see or experience in DA4".

And in-story, there's no reason to assume that eluvians are fully controlled by Solas. The network is old and probably half-broken (and we have no idea what still lurks in the shadows that may have an effect on them) - even if he has the most control of all, we know from Morrigan and work of the Qunari that individual eluvians can be pried open, given enough power or knowledge. What's more, even if the eluvian network is indeed his, we know from Trespasser Solas himself may allow us to travel through them, to whatever ends.

Also, Dorian in Trespasser - explicitly and foreshadowingly - muses about building his own eluvians.

And he is both the brilliant mage-inventor with deep pockets and one character we can be almost certain to meet in DA4 (there are also several Trespasser epilogue cards suggesting Inquisitor shows up in places unexpectedly...).

What if they are all filled with cheese?

hmm if the veil was already destroyed (at this point looking pretty likely), reality probably would be distorted in a way... to what degree though? I thought pieces of Arlathan were underground because it was intrinsically tied to the fade, which isn't entirely based on physical reality. Actually, it kinda makes sense Arlathan would be underground in reality, because as Dagna says lyrium and the fade are linked.



If on the other hand, the fade were to seep into a physical reality, I'm not sure physical structures would have their location and gravity affected in the same way since the structures weren't tied to the fade at all. Then again all those technicalities remains to be seen.


Either way, if the pulsating mass is indeed a titan heart, it is super interesting to see something originally so crystalline become so fleshy and organic. So many possibilities for where this could go!! 


At the base of the "heart" is what looks to be a humanoid-like figure, reminiscent of the one in the idol. This kinda implies the source of all the corruption is this pulsating mass, with the humanoid figure at the centre of it all. Could it be...Mythal? Or one of the evanuris who was imprisoned? One of the forgotten ones? Or just a random who died in the castle and was eventually consumed by the red lyrium?

The pulsating mass looks like a power source with the sacs all seemingly interconnected to it through the fleshy vines, implying the heart is the life source of all of these fleshy growths. Are broodmothers somehow tied into all this or is th a new method of sentient beings being formed?

I'm reminded of this line by Cole:
They made bodies from the earth. And the earth was afraid. It fought back. But they made it forget.



Perhaps the ancient elves used the titans as a blueprint to create sentient beings of their own in an attempt to technically become a god in their own right. 


The "made it forget" part is interesting to me, because it also reminds me of the Mother - the broodmother who wanted to hear the calling again to prevent herself from remembering what happened to her. It makes me think, did the ancient elves manipulate the song that naturally flows in lyrium and twist it to gain control of their minions to make them "forget"? I mean sure, the whispers are sinister to those not yet affected by the corruption, but those who have the taint have described the music as "strangely beautiful".
Cole warns you "not to listen to it", implying it draws you in like a siren song.

And, ofc The whispers in red lyrium



We are here

We have waited

We have slept

We are sundered

We are crippled

We are polluted

We endure

We wait

We have found the dreams again

We will awaken



What's interesting to me is the line "We have found the dreams again
", because it implies something significant happened that allowed their(false gods) re-connection to the fade. Was it the breach or something even before then? Either way I'm really looking forward to seeing how the dwarf/elf relations progress in the next game ...

Never 4get when Mary Mirby stated that Red Lyrium was her favorite villain. It has subtly been spreading over the past two games, overshadowed by each game’s respective events. Now, there’s organic lyrium on the surface. That doesn’t bode well.