Dragon Age Short Stories from the BioWare Team

I never noticed the pictures on the metal triangles in the above image before, they remind me of the golden tiles you collect in the game. In the new image we got today the triangles have the three lines at different angles as described in the war table mission.

So I assume it's okay to discuss the stories openly. Things I've taken from the stories so far:

The Next One: Brianne Battye seems to be writing the character of Evka, whether as a companion or prominent NPC. I assume this is a follow on to the previous story about her (Hunger) and on reaching Weishauppt the Wardens have been set the task of dealing with the strange new monsters that were discovered in Horror of Hormack. Anyway, what with concept art and VA showcase, it seems definite that the wardens are going to be involved in DA4 in some major way.

However, the other stories are by people who were not involved with Tevinter Nights even though two of the stories are using characters that appeared there.

The Wake - Is the most noticeable example of this. If people have not read Tevinter Nights then they will not understand the relations between the various characters mentioned or how Illario's words could have more than one meaning. So I'm not going to assume anyone is dead until I see a body. Still it would seem that the Crows are going to play a major part in the game, if that was not already evident from the concept art.

Ruins of Reality: Strife and Irelin looks as though they will be playing some part in the game. As with Evka I assume they could just be prominent NPCs rather than companions. Irelin seems to be able to shift into so many different animals it would be difficult to accommodate that as companion. The main thing I am taking from that story is that we will be going to Arlathan Forest at some point and are going to find weird stuff going on there. Whether that is due to Solas or the influence of some other elven god, Ghilan'nain or Andruil, remains to be seen but I'm just glad we may finally get to see the location.

Minrathous Shadows: This at least seems to have cleared up one gripe I had with Tevinter Nights, which was the fact that the Venatori seemed to be operating openly (at least in Vyrantium) and it was needing paid assassins from outside the Imperium to deal with them. I'm pretty sure it was said somewhere that it wasn't illegal to belong to the cult, which seemed odd at the time. Now it is confirmed that the situation is still the same as in DAI and the Venatori are illegal in Tevinter as well as the south. Is Tarquin the Templar going to feature? Quite possibly. Is he a southern style Templar or a northern one? Not clear about that but it did seem as though it was the Dealer who neutralised the magic. The Dealer would appear to be the Viper but who is that? Someone we already know in disguise or a new individual? I do wonder if these characters are part of the network that seemed to be sponsoring the elimination of Venatori in Tevinter Nights.

What I do find curious is that I don't recall having this amount of information upfront about a game when it hadn't even been officially announced. So is this an indication that we are going to see some sort of official launch next week?

www.ea.com/games/dragon-age

Under the "Welcome to Dragon Age" section.

So easily the worst in the franchise, drags the entire series down, ruins what made the series special, and throws out the lore and logic to appeal to the lowest denominator?

Eh, sounds about right.

Still applies. The game was hampered heavily because of that.

Thanks!!! I searched and didn't find anything, but at only looked at the top of the page, because that's usually where the feature is found.

edit: WTF! I don't even live in France...the right option is even in the list. lol

I noticed there's also a better quality image of this Deep Roads concept art on Dragon Age's site.

I was wondering the same thing? And the Viper was the dealer?

Yes, the Viper was the dealer and it did read like he was the one who blocked the magic. The magister is shocked and looks at the dealer after her spell fizzes out.

It is odd because he claimed to be a city elf that joined the Dalish, yet Strife is not a name that we have seen used by either faction of modern elves. However, we do know that Solas means Pride and Abelas meant Sorrow, so having a name like Strife would be more consistent with being an ancient elf than a modern one, although in that case it ought to be the elven word for it rather than the human version. The ancient elves would also seem to change their name with their role in life (curiously rather like the Qunari), as Abelas had had two previous names and would likely have taken another when he find his new path in life after leaving the Temple. So if Strife is really an ancient elf working for Solas (or someone else) then it can be regarded as his adopted name for the present.

It is possible each of the companions will have a code name, even if that is only how we are originally hear about them and how we refer to them until we discover the person behind the mask. I suppose it also makes sense if the group are trying to evade the notice of their enemies (particularly Solas) that they will travel under code names to conceal their identity.