What I Want in Dragon Age 4: Dark and Light Fantasy

[Winter]

Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 are Dark Fantasy. They are bleak, black, colors are muted with often a brown filter over everything and grossest with enemies like the Broodmother or the Harvester being made to be as horrifying as possible. By contrast, Dragon Age: Inquisition is more lighthearted, the visuals and enemies are designed to be more "cool" retaining the style setups in DA2 and there are a lot more colors that aren't muted or have a filter put over them.

Personally, I really like how DAI went in a different direction as it still felt like Dragon Age but showed the beauty of the world instead of the dark underbelly. BUT I do get why most fans want the series to go back to it's dark routes as that the kind of series it started as AND is the style that has remained in the tie-ins.

Personally, and based on the concept art and trailers this seems to be where the series might be going, I would like a mix of both. Keep the lighter tone DAI introduced with the darker elements being given equal screen time.

Let take a look at Star Wars: Episode 5 The Empire Strikes Back for a moment. That film is considered the darkest film in the series and a big chunk of that is the look of the film with scenes being done at night, on a snowy wasteland planet, a Swamp planet, an asteroid cave, Vader's Star Destroyer and the constantly falling apart Falcon. The only place we go to that is pretty is the clone City on Bespin and that eventually gives way the the darker side of that scene as we spend more of our time in the Carbon chamber.

The darker tone of the film wouldn't have been as impactful had it not been for the more lighthearted first film and Bespin appearing as a more heavenly city when we first go there.

For DA4 I want to have areas that are more beautiful to help make the darker areas and parts of the story stand out more. That we get the best of both worlds as the two can help to contrast and complement the other. Like say we get a mission that's set at a Beautiful Palace that is a fun infiltration party that leads us into the Torture chambers of said palace. With DAO we spend most of our time in Denerim seeing only the ugly side of the city and with the color filter we don't get a chance to see why this city is worth fighting for scene everyone there is an @$$hole with the only decent place being the Brothel.

This only got worse in DA2 with Kirkwall taking the title of Worst City in Fiction (eat your heart out Gotham) which is filled with @$$holes everywhere and no good side to the city making me wonder why anyone would even want to STAY there. With DAI it showed that there are good people even in the stingy Orlais with people like Fairbanks and other just regular people who just wanted to live their lives.

Every time I play DAI I enjoy doing the side quests because I like helping these people while in DAO and DA2 I don't really want to do most of the side content because I don't care that much about anyone. DAO has enough good people that I can but DA2 is a game that I just don't want to play because the tone makes it impossible for me to care.

I want DA4 to have good people and places that are nice to look at and a dark tone to make the beauty of this world stand out more.

[CharlesPhipps]

Dragon Age was envisioned as a kind of midway point between GAME OF THRONES and LORD OF THE RINGS (movies).

Inquisition is just straight good vs. evil fantasy.

I definitely prefer the first but you can't do it without David Gaider.

[Thebestoftherest]

I hope it comes to switch.

[hammerofglass]

Honestly I disagree that the series was ever all that dark. Yeah it's a bleak setting with broodmothers and racism and slavery, but you spend the whole time spouting one liners with teams of snarky, quirky, likable people and tear apart every evil thing you actually cross paths with with little trouble. It ain't exactly The Black Company.