Dragon Age: Inquisition's secret base camp replacement will make you "freak out"
Plus, just how open are the open worlds?
Dragon Age: Inquisition doesn't have the base camp feature from previous games in the series - but BioWare has high hopes for its secret replacement.
In Dragon Age: Origins base camp acted as a hub from which you could chat with your party members, give them gifts and enchant your gear, among other things.
Inquisition doesn't have this because the game is structured differently, but watch this space, BioWare Edmonton producer Cameron Lee told Eurogamer.
"You could use the Keeps in a similar fashion to that [the base camps]," Lee said. "It's one of those places where you can restock equipment, but it's not a replacement for the camp system.
"We have something else in mind for that, which is a lot more grandiose than even the Keep system. We'll get into that later on. I think people are going to freak out!"
Structurally, Dragon Age: Inquisition is made up of a series of huge levels linked together. This isn't the same approach as, say, Bethesda Game Studios' Skyrim, which presents a gargantuan open world players can explore from the get go, but BioWare insists Inquisition's levels are massive, which is why it's introduced mounts. Indeed one medium sized level shown off at a recent preview event in London is larger than all of Origins and Dragon Age 2 combined.
"We're still working on the specifics of how you move between the levels," Lee explained.
"What we definitely won't do is lots and lots of fast travel everywhere. We don't want people to just to be able to teleport wherever they want to teleport, but you will be able to travel between it.
"We'll get into more of that at a later date, but one thing to think about with this is that when you look at the map of what we've got and where we place down these big open worlds, there's so much space and context around being in that world.
"There's an overarching conflict and a narrative that runs through it, and we place down into each of those big open worlds similar conflicts and narratives. So even though you're moving through these different open worlds you're still seeing the same context of the events that are taking shape.
"The reactivity between these different areas is connected and strong, so you don't feel like you're moving from one planet to another planet. It's all still connected. But the specific travelling mechanism, yeah, we'll talk about that a little bit later. But we do want people to be able to fill in that space a little bit."
"We have something else in mind for that, which is a lot more grandiose than even the Keep system. I think people are going to freak out!"
Dragon Age: Inquisition producer Cameron Lee
BioWare has also tweaked slightly how you'll interact with party members. In previous games, an approval system allowed you to improve or damage your relationship with individuals through your actions, choices and the gift system.
With Inquisition, BioWare's goal is to create a "more natural experience".
"The approval system from the previous games was very binary," Lee said. "You'd give someone a gift and get plus five approval. It's not like that any more. It's more natural and fluid.
"Previous games also locked content out based on approval ratings between you and your followers. We want to let people go on these quests and have these experiences with the party members you've made a relationship with, but things will play out a little bit differently depending on your current relationship status with them.
"It's more of a natural experience. Otherwise it's like, okay, I've got enough favour with this person, I can go and do the quest and I only get one outcome from it. It's more complex now."
As for the romance system, BioWare is keeping its cards close to its chest, promising to reveal more later.
"It's such a big thing in BioWare games and romance is really important for a lot of players," Lee said. "It's not why we make the games, but it's certainly been a part of the experience people have, so we want to make sure we do it right."