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Given Dragon Age: Inquisition's critical success, it wasn't long before BioWare fans began to wonder how the title's formula would affect the studio's sci-fi property, Mass Effect. Distancing itself from previous games in the series, Inquisition's foundation is built upon open, explorable maps, and a whole lot of side quests, along with features that we've come to expect such as branching storylines and a hefty dollop of player choice.

Taking into consideration the concerns that the next Mass Effect game would simply follow the same template, BioWare bigwig Aaryn Flynn took to the NeoGAF forums, where he posted his thoughts on the matter. "We've said the next Mass Effect uses some of the technology from DAI," the executive wrote, adding that: "We've been enjoying building larger areas that you can explore with less friction, so that'll be there as well."

"But after that, the next Mass Effect will be (and should be) drawing on its own rich and successful past more than what DAI would say it should do," Flynn continues, hinting that the future release won't just follow in the fantasy RPG's footsteps. He then goes on to say that the evolution of hardware is probably a more important focal point when creating something new, adding: "In fact, I'd go so far as to say that dropping the older consoles has had more impact on the overall gameplay goals of the next Mass Effect game than what DAI successfully accomplished." That's that, then.

The BioWare representative then concludes the post by writing that "we're very proud of what DAI has achieved, but that does not set a 'template' for what every other game we make needs to be — each game franchise needs to innovate and improve their experience based on what's best for it." We're not sure we could have put it better ourselves.

Despite Flynn's words, though, we still reckon that the next instalment in the Mass Effect franchise will draw comparisons with Inquisition, but perhaps not to the extent that many originally thought. Nevertheless, what do you want from the upcoming space adventure? Do you think that it could learn a thing or two from Dragon Age? Jet off into the stars with us in the comments section below.

[source neogaf.com, via eurogamer.net]