I posted a couple of pages ago a link about an interview where the director talked a bit about the skills and the way it is supposed to work. Another link where they talk more about the mission based aspect. They elaborated a bit on some things in a Discord Q&A yesterday.
There are still the three archetypes/classes. Warrior, rogue, and mage. The companions will have things that pertain to the archetype/class that is theirs, but they will have their specific skills too. In the Q&A they explained that they wanted to reflect their history and personality in that way too. To maybe add to that, I don't know exactly how it works, but, for example, Bellara (the Veil Jumper) is in fact a mage, yet in the trailer we saw her using a bow. Neve (the detective from the Shadow Dragons) is also a mage, but she appears much more classic, and she's really specialized in ice magic.
For the protagonist rogue and the melee or ranged thing. Well, in the gameplay reveal we can already see that the rogue is sometimes able to use a bow here and there, while primarily using daggers. Rogue specializations are supposedly Duelist, Saboteur, and Veil Ranger. I'd say that Duelist might maybe go well for melee, and Veil Ranger for ranged. I don't know about poisons or stealth, or what Saboteur might entail. Edit : Yeah, after taking another look at some notes from the Q&A, there was a question about being an archer, and they answered that there was one skill tree for ranged combat for rogues, and that it would be totally viable.
For the two companions thing, they said they had tested a lot of things, and just concluded that, to them, it was the right number. So the companions could also have more visibility and presence, and so that it was not too overwhelming. There's supposed to be synergies possible in between the protagonist and the companions at certain moments too (edit : they gave an example where Bellara would cast her ability Gravity Well, with another mage’s Time Stop, and your character going for damages, possibly with something that works well on the weaknesses of the enemies).
Again, it's supposed to be mission based. They explained a bit more, that the start is pretty linear, and then it opens up more. It starts in Minrathous, in the Tevinter Imperium, but it expands to Northern Thedas more generally. From a hub, called The Lighthouse, a little bit like Skyhold in Inquisition. In the Q&A they repeated that they wanted things to be really tied to the story, even when you can explore more, return somewhere, or get to some side content. I think I remember that they also joked along the lines of "no more shards in the Hinterlands". And, from what I've heard, they have taken feedback and inputs from a lot of people while working on the game. Edit : To add that they mentioned that some locations might see changes depending on choices.
I don't remember everything. But I think they intend to divulge more (character creator, more about combat, and a few other things) in the future.
Thanks for this summation. Very informative, and personally interesting.
