Dragon Age: Origins is fondly remembered as a throwback to the RPG glory days of yore where combat was action-based, but tactical. Dragon Age II is not so fondly remembered as a game that did away with any form of tactical planning, and instead charged the player with hitting the attack button over and over again until everything was dead. With Dragon Age: Inquisition, BioWare has a chance to make things right, but will they?
In the below dev video from GameInformer, the team at BioWare talks about how they’re approaching combat in Dragon Age: Inquisition. The team says that they focused on what players did and didn’t like about the combat in the previous two games, and are now wanting to focus on what they liked in the latest title. What this means is that Dragon Age: Inquisition’s combat will have the more action-focused combat of Dragon Age II while retaining the tactical elements of Dragon Age: Origins.
It sounds great on paper, but it doesn’t look quite like that in the off-screen gameplay show in the dev video. It looks like an action RPG where players can take direct control of their entire party. It’s a welcome addition, but it doesn’t look like the pseudo-turn-based combat of the first game. Those looking for more Dragon Age: Origins may have to look elsewhere.
That being said, all of the gameplay shown above is incredibly early. BioWare may have more tricks up its sleeve and we may see a combat system that’s even better than what was seen in Dragon Age: Origins. Until we find out more, fans are better off remaining cautiously optimistic.
Dragon Age: Inquisition will launch in 2014 for the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS4, PS3 and PC.