Dragon Age: Inquisition Tidbits

Some new info for Dragon Age: Inquisition recently emerged, courtesy of a preview from printed German magazine Gamestar, from which some BioWare forums users grabbed a handful of new tidbits. Some of the info doesn’t come directly from the magazine but by translated summaries of the preview article, so keep in mind some details might be lost in translation:

Two new companions
-The bald elf mage called Solas who is an apostate and expert for the fade
-The Qunari Iron Bull. David Gaider describes with this words: He fears nothing only the past.

-GameStar saw also an archer (likely Sera)
-The Inquisitor can make his/her own rifts (is it the correct word for Risse) in the fade and summon demons
-No fade puzzles (transformations) like Origins
-Two voice actors for each gender. (I don´t know if this mean 16 for each race and gender or only 4)
-Skyhold or Homebase system. You will also be able to customize certain rooms and buy upgrades, like a garden to grow plants for alchemy. The journalist also suspects that there will be a “map room”, where you can allocate troops to open new trade routes or occupy outposts.
-dynamic wildlife. If you kill all the wolves in a forest they are gone for a while. In the same forest another player can met deer.
-new enemy giants they like Darkspawn ogres and throw rocks.
-A dragon is especially vulnerable on the head

The pros:
-large and beautiful areas
-elaborate tactic camera
-challenging fights
-Savegame import

…

You can’t pick a male voice when playing a female character (kinda obvious, but apparently one of the Journalist asked ; P)

The Protagonist can actively jump but not climb.

There won’t be mod-support for DA:I

Morrigan will make an appearance but won’t be a party member. The same goes for Hawke and the Warden.

…

for some mysterious and not further explained reason the inquisitor is the only person capable of closing the tears in the fade

to advance the story, the inquisition has to have gained a certain strength, to unlock new regions upgrading/customization of Skyhold and any other outposts

Solas is a (renegade) mage but we don’t know where he is from

Solas is an expert on the fade (spirit medium like Wynne and Rhys)

Laidlaw says most areas are roughly three times the size of the korcari wilds from DA: O animal wildlife works differently: they interact with each other (wolves hunt deer, a dragon once picked a fight with a giant) and need time to repopulate, so if you kill all the wolves in an area, you’re gonna have to be very patient

the environment is supposed to have a big influence on battle, like we’ve seen the inquisitor slightly stumble when the ground turns muddy after rain