Dragon Age 3 rumours

The Escapist, amongst others, has reported upon some rumours about Dragon Age 3 which have emerged:

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/119172-Rumor-Survey-Spills-Details-on-Dragon-Age-3

Whilst certain aspects have the ring of truth, I'm not sure they're entirely right. There may (or may not be) spoilers for DA3 below and are spoilers for previous games.

DA3 is to be set in Orlais

This has been hinted at elsewhere and many expected this to be the case. It's also possible that the game takes place in Orlais and other countries, and I'd be more surprised if we did not visit the faux French kingdom than if we did.

Civil wars + conspiracies + demons invading from another dimension

The civil war aspect (well, Templars versus Mages and with a waning Chantry) more or less happens during DA2 so it'd be a bit weird if that got dropped. The conspiracy angle is also somewhat hinted at (with Flemeth and Morrigan).

The dimensional portal and lots of angry demons is new. I hope it isn't true, as it sounds rather bland and unoriginal. It also seems entirely unnecessary given that a once dominant church is falling into wrack and ruin and civil wars are tearing the world apart.

Variable playstyle and 'important' decisions

Apparently the player's job is to lead the Inquisition (nobody expected that), and reassert some form of order. This can occur by assembling armies and smashing your enemies in the face until they realise that doing whatever you say is a good idea, using spies, or partaking in political shenanigans. That would be quite a significant change in gameplay from both previous instalments. It also seems a bit weird to have the protagonist leading something called an Inquisition. They don't have a good reputation, really.

Up to 10 companions, with up to 4 in the party at once, and online co-op gameplay

I'd be surprised if this happens. I think that's more than either previous game and a four man (including the player-character) group works perfectly well.

I also hope the online gameplay doesn't come about. Yes, a solitary player can just do without, but it would mean the developers spending more time frittering their time away on co-op rather than world-building, scriptwriting and so on and so forth.

Titles including The Breach, Exarch, Inquisition, Inquisitor, Apocrypha

Whilst I like Exarch, I think the term is not one that most will get (given Byzantine history isn't exactly pop culture). The Breach sounds like a troubled pregnancy, Apocrypha too mystical, and the two Inquisi-terms could work but they sound like a tortuous experience. After the double facepalming statues of Kirkwall Bioware might seek to avoid giving DA3 a title suggesting prolonged pain.

Stuff not mentioned

Nothing about a lady Qunari companion, alas. Also not mentioned was the DLC approach, but given what happened with ME3 and DA2 it's reasonable to suspect there'll be an unpleasantly large array of DLC, including day 1 DLC.

In fact, Dragon Age 3 has not, I think, even been officially confirmed. However, it's close to being a dead cert. I just hope it's more like Origins than DA2.

Thaddeus