Dragon Age: Inquisition for Xbox 360/PS3 won't look as good as Xbox One/PS4, but there's no gameplay compromises

Here's some good news if you're planning to pick up the Xbox 360 or PlayStation 3 version of BioWare's upcoming role-playing game Dragon Age: Inquisition. BioWare producer Mark Darrah tells GameSpot's Carolyn Petit in a new feature interview that the "last-gen" versions of the ambitious role-playing game are not compromised or scaled back from a design perspective. Of course, the graphics will look better on the new systems, however.

"No," Darrah said. "I would say we're definitely making this game to take advantage of the hardware that we have. I don't think we've had to make any compromises. Because this is ultimately about you controlling a party. The combats are designed to be controlled in size, and that's really meant that scaling for the lesser platforms has been a manageable exercise. I don't think we're making any gameplay compromises. Graphically, yeah, I think you're gonna see some compromises on the last-gen stuff, but in gameplay, I think we should be able to keep parity."

Cross-generational development is problematic, according to The Witcher studio CD Projekt Red CEO Marcin Iwinski. He said supporting two generations of consoles at once will always mean that developers must compromise in one way or another. For this reason, CD Projekt Red is developing its own fantasy RPG, The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, only for Xbox One, PS4, and PC. It would be impossible to release the game on Xbox 360 or PS3 and keep its spirit intact, he said.

For upcoming Lord of the Rings game Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, developer Monolith Productions had to scale back the game's ambitious Nemesis system for the Xbox 360 and PS3. Another high-profile cross-gen game, Bungie's shooter Destiny, is coming to both old and new consoles. The developer says all versions will contain the "full vision" of the game, but it remains to be seen what specific differences there are between iterations.

Lastly, our interview with Darrah also touched on the possibility of more stories in the Dragon Age universe. He teased that the Dragon Age series has an overall story arc, and Dragon Age: Inquisition won't bring a conclusion to the franchise.

"Dragon Age was never intended to be a trilogy. We've always really looked at Dragon Age as the story of a world as opposed to the story of a character. That's one of the reasons why we change characters between games. So, no, this isn't the wrap-up of a trilogy. We have an overarching story arc. We are going somewhere with the storytelling. But this game isn't a conclusion."

Dragon Age: Inquisition launches this fall for Xbox 360, Xbox One, PS3, PS4, and PC. For more on the game, be sure to read our just-published interview with Darrah.