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The upcoming Dragon Age: Inquisition marks Bioware's first ever openworld role-playing game, and the genre specialist studio is keen to make sure that you, as the leader of the Inquisition of the title, won't be slogging through meaningless side quests for no reason.

"What we've done is try to make all the open areas thematically appropriate," lead designer Mark Laidlaw has told VG247. "None of them are places where there’s no reason for the Inquisitor to be there, there's no reason for the Inquisition to be there."

"There's a solid theme through it all, which is that the Inquisition is growing, the enemies are being pushed back, you're claiming new territory," Laidlaw continued. "By doing that what I'm hoping is that the side quests still feel tied back to the main story in that by completing them you're growing your Inquisition and then that in turn is what enables you to go on the big [quests]. Like 'okay, now we're gonna lay siege to this fortress' or what have you. Rather than it just being well, you could do them and you'll get some gold – nah! At that point, they feel pretty trivial."

Nor will you be able to ignore the side quests to just follow the main storyline – because there's no distinction. To progress in the game, you need to build your Inquisition, and to do that you'll need to explore and engage with the world. "The exploration content is what empowers you to pursue the core story, right?" said Laidlaw. "You can't do only core story. That's one of the fundamental changes is that the exploration content is part of that experience."

Dragon Age: Inquisition launches on 21 November for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.