The reviews are out for Bioware's latest epic RPG adventure, "Dragon Age: Inquisition," but some of you might not be quite up to speed with what's going in the new massively deep and lore heavy game. This is where Mike Laidlaw, Creative Director for "Dragon Age: Inquisition," becomes our knight in shining armor.

MTV News talked to Laidlaw about how "Inquisition" is the right time to dive into the "Dragon Age" series - whether you're a seasoned RPG soldier, or freshly minted bard on your first journey. Read on for all that, as well as a tease of where the series may go next.

MTV News: For those who are first getting into the series, introduce us to the world of "Dragon Age."

Mike Laidlaw: Sure! So, the "Dragon Age" world is one in which things are regularly going wrong. It's a fantasy world that's similar to Tolkien -- elves and dwarves -- but it's one that's always been teetering on the brink of destruction.

There are beastly Darkspawn living underground that surge every hundred years or so, only ever being beaten back at great personal cost. There's hundreds of feudal lords vying for control over a few great nations that at various points are rocked by disaster. And it's world in which while there is magic, it comes at very terrible prices.

Mages of the world are constantly in danger of being possessed by demons. And while magic can be primarily beneficial, it's also widely feared and they are kind of subjugated, kept under control by these things called the Circle of Magi that protect them and train them - but also prevent them from ever being free as a potential danger to the people at large.

So it's not that sort of classic "Dungeons and Dragons" where, "Oh, the mages are here; that's lovely!" It's actually a terrifying thing.

MTV: How does "Inquisition" work into the narrative?

Laidlaw: So, all of these things actually come to head in "Inquisition" where the group that keeps the mages under control have broken off. They're fighting a war and refusing to serve the dominant religion of the world. Multiple nations in the south have been torn apart by civil war or have been attacked by the Darkspawn and recovering from a Blight. So everybody's in a rough and precarious position.

As "Inquisition" starts there's this last ditch attempt to bring together the mages and templars to try to unify them back under the Chantry -- religion's rule -- and things go horribly wrong. A disaster rocks this conclave that's supposed to be about peace. It kills almost everybody present, including the leadership of both sides, as well as the Chantry. And suddenly the world ha none of the usual stabilizing forces. In the wake of that, your character survives that blast -- which kills almost everybody else -- and has somehow been marked by magic no one understands... and rifts are opening up around the world where demons are pouring out.

So, this is necessarily a very bad situation. And the end result is that there's really only one avenue that everybody sees -- to re-form this group called the Inquisition. No one really wants to have that happen. It kind of formed in against protests of the Chantry and mages. No one wants the Inquisition to be but someone needs to step up and set things right. And more importantly uncover who is behind all the events that have recently occurred.

MTV: And then the story proceeds after that. You take over this new character, correct?

Laidlaw: Absolutely. It's a new character to the series. We've done previous main characters, but they don't -- you don't have to have played those before. You end up playing an Inquisitor who is your choice of race and class. You get to meet an all new cast of characters. So yeah, that's why it's a good jump-in point for someone who is new to the series.

MTV: Why is "Inquisition" the best time to get into "Dragon Age" now?

Laidlaw: Well, it's a combo of things. Certainly, I think it's very accessible to new players and that there's kind of an immediate disaster to wrap your head around. The world sort of introduces it by belaboring long exposition right at the beginning. But it's there.

We have a codex which has over -- like hundreds of entries. We have characters you can ask questions about like, "Hey, where are you from? What's your nation like?" And we have an all new (main) character. But also it's a new set up for the series in terms of how it flows. The new mechanics for having a massive open world and all new graphics engine that makes it look gorgeous. Especially on the new generation of consoles.

MTV: As I understand it "Dragon Age" -- or at least Inquisition -- is less of sequel, and more a series of stories set within this universe. So is "Dragon Age," as a series, more about a really cool world you've created, so here are a bunch of different stories you can tell in it?

Laidlaw: I sincerely could not have said it any better than that. That is exactly the goal. We want to make it stories -- a set of stories -- about a place and a time that's consistent. That does evolve and grow over time, but that you could jump in at virtually any point -- either comics, dive into any novel, dive in wherever you want and basically be able to enjoy this world and it's self-contained but realized and consistent and coherent set of events.

MTV: How can players go back to the older games ("Dragon Age: Origins," "Dragon Age 2") after having played "Inquisition"?

Laidlaw: There are a couple of things. First off, you can familiarize yourself with the high level detail of these games using the website we've created called "Dragon Age Keep." This website lets you go and make choices from the previous games and import that world -- a summary of the stories, what events have happened. It's pretty cool. We're actually really happy with the work the team's done there. They do help make it present itself in cool way.

If you want to go back, here's the thing. The gameplay plays a little differently. Certainly, visually, it's going to look older, like they do. But the thing I think has consistency through it all is the way we tell stories -- which is to have choices, to have a character that you feel like you've made and shaped, and to have an experience you can compare with friends. "Wow, no. I didn't do that, I did this." I think it's very cool and something that's unique to Bioware. But it's something we consider our core goals as storytellers.

So, I think their elements are very familiar. I think it's nice to go back and say, "Oh, cool, that's what Alistair and stuff was like." But at the same time, they're are almost too annoying to have to go back because you can get some of the aspects of, like, building a world you bring forward out of that website, the "Keep."

MTV: So it's like a Sparx Notes of sorts to bring you forward into "Inquisition?"

Laidlaw: Absolutely. In fact, it's a combo. There's two parts to it. One is a tapestry, which is narrated by Varrick -- one of the characters in "Inquisition." He's a storyteller at heart, so he does the narration and explains what happened in "Origins" and "2." At certain points you can make key choices and say, "No, this how it turned out."

Then, there's some more detailed set of tools to help the tapestry. And the tapestry contains all the choices that the "Keep" tracks. It's not every choice in the games but a big chunk of them. All the ones that we've kind of future-proofed for the franchise because we may want to look at some of these things that may come up in "Inquisition" or may come up in future "Dragon Age" games. We tried to be pretty complete.

So you say this guy's king, but somewhere it else says he's dead; there's a bit that says you've invalidated this, do you want us to solve it for you? So it gives you this very powerful tool to build a world - and our goal for future projects is that the "Keep" evolves and grows and your tapestry gets bigger.

MTV: How do you keep track of all these multi-dimensional, different stories?

Laidlaw: The "Keep" is a big step in the right direction as opposed to having to copy saved games -- which doesn't work across generations. So, the "Keep" is a big part of building it. Basically think of it as data package which contains salient details about your world. So the canonical world is the one that you've been playing in previous games.

The way we tend to approach it -- like with things that are external, things we can't compare with the "Keep", say, a novel -- is that there are certain things that we've sort of impress at, well, this novel is set in a world where this guy isn't dead. Or this character lives, or what have you. And when we do that -- the thing that we're extra careful about, and try to be really respectful of is, while we may mention the Hero of Ferelden as someone who exists, in those kinds of works we'll never gender the hero. We won't give the hero a race or go one and one about how he was a male elf and a rogue. We'll talk about how there was a Hero of Ferelden and that they we're great. And we stop there.

That way we're not trumping all over your head-space making the novel off-putting. So we occasionally -- like, there's a character who appears in "Origins" that also appear in Dragon Age: Asunder and she may not live through all of "Origins," and that's regrettable, but it's the storyteller's choice. But when it comes to your character, we're very, very respectful of that.

MTV: What is the best way to experience "Dragon Age" for the first time? Any tips?

Laidlaw: When you first start the game there's a fair amount of stuff going on. Stay focused on the actions. Stay focused on what you're trying to do and what is your next objective. Don't feel you have to understand everything every single thing that's going on this world.

The game is deliberately designed to kind of pull you through the opening -- to draw towards your role in the story. And as it opens up, it becomes a lot easier to kind of talk to the other characters and explore the world. Don't feel you have to know what's going on. But when the opportunities present themselves, don't be afraid to ask questions and sit down and talk to the other characters. And just say, "So, tell me about yourself? Tell me about the world." And that'll help you understand.

The other biggie, I think, if you're totally a newcomer and you're not adverse to reading -- which I get, not everybody loves in game. But if you like reading, dig through the codex. There are some really cool point of view narrations, stories and letters, that are all kind of from records and concepts written from characters in the world to get your head around. Including the mages -- like what's magic; how does it work? And that can all be very cool to kind of experience as a part of the game.

Probably, having the big thing from me for newcomers, is think ahead. Try to come up with the kind of character that you'd like to play. Certain decisions, like, am I a rogue or mage, are kind of locked in but you don't have to worry about it too hard because you can re-spec some of you character. And this can change how your combat dynamic works.

And finally, remember, to use the "Keep." It's a really big part of the "Dragon Age" world. You don't just control your character, you control the whole group.

MTV: So what's the future for "Dragon Age?"

Laidlaw: One of the things we've already talked about and are kind of committed to is the multiplayer. You can team up with your buddies online, use the same combat style, but essentially go through -- think of it as a dungeons -- where enemies get tougher as you try to achieve objectives as the Inquisition vanguard. I think that's a really cool experience; I think it's nice to be able to co-op and be online. It's first stab at that. We learned a lot from that with "Mass Effect 3."

But with online, I think, the big thing for me is I tend to think of gameplay. I want to look at more interactivity. I want to look at more reactivity in the world to things you're doing. I think there's really neat opportunities where spaces change and so on, and with "Inquisition" I think we can go even further.

And of course there so many more stories. "Inquisition" tells the story of the Chantry -- leaving us with the Qunari; leaving us with the Tevinter. There's this massive map. And the thing is there's this fictional space within the map we haven't even covered. So, there's a lot of directions we go. And of course we have some ideas, but, you know, I don't want to spoil those.

"Dragon Age: Inquisition" is available November 18 for PS4, Xbox One, and PC.