I am OCD when it comes to making decisions in RPGs. If I have to choose between saving a kid or punching him in the face? Of course I would pick the latter, because ‘Of course they’re not going to let me do that, I’m sure they’ll play a cutscene or something and in the nick of time someone will-OH MY GOD!!’ Pause. This is the point where I do one of two things, ‘Commence the loading of the auto save!’ Or just feel like an asshat and ride it out to see what happens, before I inevitably wind up saving, going back to the auto save pre-decision and choosing option B. I am the queen of ‘One play through, 236343 different saves.’ I have a lot of saves. Alot of them.
So if you save when you save after you save…before you save-
-And you’re as anal as me when it comes to games that allow you to make both world altering and character defining decisions, then you can imagine my grief. (I’m looking you straight in the cornea Dragon Age:Origins) The good news is BioWare has got you covered for the upcoming Dragon Age: Inquisition!
The New Dragon Age Keep Takes it to the Cloud!
BioWare has created a new history-editor for DA:I based in the cloud, which will now allow players to rebuild their entire back story before jumping feet first into DA:I. Needless to say, this is perfect for players who have either lost or deleted their Dragon Age:Origins or Dragon Age II saved files, or who will be changing consoles due to the next-gen drop.
Aptly titled the Dragon Age ‘Keep’, this will be the cloud storage service for future and existing Inquisition gamesaves.
Over at the Bioware Blog, Dragon Age Executive Producer Mark Darrak dropped some deets on the Keep:
Within the Keep, you’ll be able to customize a Dragon Age historical world state to your exact specifications. How did you modify your Warden and Hawke? Who were your companions? Who did you choose to romance? Who rose to power, and who fell in defeat? What legacy did you leave?
Within the Keep, you’ll be able to customize as much or as little about the world of Thedas as you wish. Then you’ll be able to import your saved world state into DAI at the start of a new game…For those folks new to the Dragon Age franchise, the Keep will serve as a great way to understand the people, places, and events that shaped the world leading up to DAI.
So Let’s Keep The Party Rolling!
The idea has merit, especially considering one of my main concerns with DA:I was how in the world were player decisions up until then going to be prevalent in the new world? It seemed like quite an inconvenience to re-write your entire character’s history/back story before you even start playing, because in the words of the immortal Sweet Brown, “Ain’t Nobody Got Time Fo Dat.”
Using this method, Darrah states that not only will it be less time consuming than filling out a 500 question questionnaire pre-game, but will allow players to explore all of those what-if scenarios. The Keep will make new and existing players more aware of events and consequences of decisions made in past games, as well as resolve all of those pesky left over plot holes.
What do you think my fellow gamers? Are you looking forward to using the Keep?
Dragon Age: Inquisition is set to release in Fall 2014 for next-gen consoles.
