I've survived the noisy and hollow "Year of the Explosion", seen myself trundle along, knee visibly wounded, during the "Year of the Bow & Arrow" and have cheered and revelled beside the most immature of wise men in the "Year of Luigi", but I cannot say that I am prepared to justify, let alone accept, what is quickly being made easier to call the "Age of the Unnecessary Multiplayer Mode". I just can't.

Apparently BioWare are considering a multiplayer mode for the promising sounding Dragon Age: Inquisition, the sequel to the disappointing Dragon Age II and the sequel-sequel to the outstanding Dragon Age: Origins. Don't bother getting up from your seat, you shouldn't be surprised, this is a trend after all. Speaking to OXM, the game's producer Cameron Lee said:

"The Mass Effect multiplayer stuff is really good, so we've certainly looked at options like that, but we haven't decided on anything in terms of multiplayer at this point."

He's of course referring to Mass Effect 3's multiplayer co-op mode that segued into the main game's storyline with some threadbare influences on it, but this is not the first time the Dragon Age franchise and the word "multiplayer" have shared page space in the internet. A 2011 report from Kotaku suggested that multiplayer was being considered for the franchise and also mentioned playable dragons!

I loved Dragon Age: Origins, it was one of those few RPGs that felt "just right", I didn't even bother with Dragon Age II after going through the abysmal demo, but something about Inquisition has my interest piqued. The bits and pieces of information suggest a game that's as ambitious as the first game, and that's something that I can admire.