I felt a neuron activate in me the moment I saw the mage in teleport-dodge out of an attack like it was nothing. Mages [[link]] always bring the flashiest spells to the fight, but if I get to Dark Souls dodge-roll with magic, I will not play another class.
When Corius the Icetalon lunges forward and snaps its jaws, you can blink out of thin air to dodge it. The cooldown looks just long enough, however, that you can't spam it like you would a dodge roll in a Souls game. Luckily, there are plenty of other spells to use while it's recharging, like a brief barrier spell that seems to nullify attacks.
You can set up satisfying magical combos with your allies too. In the trailer, we see the mage command her buddies to weaken the dragon before pulling a meteor down from the sky to inflict burning on [[link]] it—and then later, pull electricity out of the air and engulf the dragon in a massive AoE spell. It all looks potent and sounds like it has a meaningful impact, which is something earlier Dragon Ages lacked for me compared to more action-heavy RPGs at the time.
After reading Lauren Morton's and now seeing this, I think it's pretty clear that this one has the juice. I'll be donning my robes [[link]] and staff when it's out on October 31.