Dragon Age 3

[clint g]

Well, who didn't see this one coming?

http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/dragon-age-iii/1221093p1.html

Original Story: BioWare wants your help. No, I'm not talking about your script for a revised ending to Mass Effect 3 (even though the studio would likely take a look at this point). I'm talking about Dragon Age 3. BioWare confirmed today that it is gearing up for its next Dragon Age installment, and it is actively seeking fan input on the direction the franchise should take.

Personally I would like them to go back and give me more of what Dragon Age: Origins offered. A more tactical-style RPG rather than the glorified hack-n-slash that was DA2. And yeah, more environments.



And endings that involve more than changing the colors of the explosions

 

[Reverend]

Actually, I thought the hacky-slashy combat was a huge improvement over DAO's. I could have done without the waves of enemies that appear out of thin air though. Perhaps somewhere in between?

The ending of DA2 was a problem too wasn't it? Though that was more a result of the multi year story structure that required three separate and largely unrelated endings leading to the same anticlimax.

As for what I'd like to see, I think playing as a Seeker recruit in Orlais this time around would be a good direction...though with the Mage-Templar war on it might be tricky justifying being able to play as a mage. Maybe the chantry offer sanctuary and/or amnesty for mages (even apostates) willing to serve as a Seeker. Taking a page from the Grey Warden rule book perhaps?

 

[firehawk12]

Weird, because they also announced that there was a DA2 expansion pack that was cancelled (THERE WERE EVEN SHIRTS!). I guess they decided to just go into this game.

Of course, after ME3 and DA2, I'm probably out.

 

[clint g]

Yeah, I'm going to approached this game with caution myself. There was a time when I would purchase a BioWare game just because it was a BioWare game. Those days are pretty much over with.

 

[PsychoPere]

Although I still haven't found time to play the "Legacy" and "Mark of the Assassin" DLCs, I'm disappointed to hear that an expansion had been planned and was abandoned. I would've loved to have seen one of my Hawkes as a leading figure of the mage rebellion during an Exalted March.

Despite some disappointments (recycled environments, etc.), I enjoyed the majority of Dragon Age II quite a bit, so I'm eager to hear more about DA3 as development begins.

 

[Reverend]

DA2 certainly had much to recommend it and it was hardly the unmitigated disaster some like to pretend it was.

I know I'm probably in the minority with this view, but I thought the companions' story arcs were the "real" story being told and that whole mage/templar thing was just a backdrop. Perhaps that's less a to do with the way the companions were written and more to do with how disinterested I was with the main plot, but it was enough to get me to replay it three more times. Not a big fan of the DLC. Legacy was just one massively dull dungeon crawl topped off by a frustrating boss battle. Never did finish Mark of the Assassin.

 

[clint g]

DA2 certainly had much to recommend it and it was hardly the unmitigated disaster some like to pretend it was.

I know I'm probably in the minority with this view, but I thought the companions' story arcs were the "real" story being told and that whole mage/templar thing was just a backdrop. Perhaps that's less a to do with the way the companions were written and more to do with how disinterested I was with the main plot, but it was enough to get me to replay it three more times. Not a big fan of the DLC. Legacy was just one massively dull dungeon crawl topped off by a frustrating boss battle. Never did finish Mark of the Assassin.

The big issue with DA2 was that it was

a)Glitchy

and

b)Different from the first one


Now being different isn't necessarily a bad thing. I loved the story and how it was told differently from DA1. What I didn't like was the change to the gameplay. RPGs like DAO and KOTOR don't come around very often. Is it too much to ask that their be a franchise that keeps the elements that make those games fun? In the case of DA2, they felt that they could take a few pages from ME2 and apply them to DA2. While it didn't break the game, it took away some of what made DAO special.

 

[firehawk12]

I think the more egregious problem was that, as someone described it, monsters seemed to time share caves and dungeons in Dragon Age 2.

 

[Reverend]

DA2 certainly had much to recommend it and it was hardly the unmitigated disaster some like to pretend it was.

I know I'm probably in the minority with this view, but I thought the companions' story arcs were the "real" story being told and that whole mage/templar thing was just a backdrop. Perhaps that's less a to do with the way the companions were written and more to do with how disinterested I was with the main plot, but it was enough to get me to replay it three more times. Not a big fan of the DLC. Legacy was just one massively dull dungeon crawl topped off by a frustrating boss battle. Never did finish Mark of the Assassin.

The big issue with DA2 was that it was

a)Glitchy

^Uncontested.

and

b)Different from the first one


Now being different isn't necessarily a bad thing. I loved the story and how it was told differently from DA1. What I didn't like was the change to the gameplay. RPGs like DAO and KOTOR don't come around very often. Is it too much to ask that their be a franchise that keeps the elements that make those games fun? In the case of DA2, they felt that they could take a few pages from ME2 and apply them to DA2. While it didn't break the game, it took away some of what made DAO special.

As with ME2, yes I think they went a little too far in stripping away/streamlining some of the classic RPG mechanics. However, Like also ME2 they got a lot right in this department too. I didn't miss having an inventory half full of crafting materials I'm never going to use, nor for that matter did I mind not being able to equip my companions with found armour and actually quite liked that they kept their iconic looks. Having said that, some more variety in the alternate appearances and the ability to pick which one they should wear would have been better.

 

[clint g]

I could live without the crafting, I really missed loading out my characters though

 

[stonester1]

I LOVE both the games in this series, and hope they learn their lesson on what they did with ME3.

 

[Skywalker]

Honestly, aside from the boring, constantly recycled environments and the third act (where things kinda started to fall apart), I thought Dragon Age II was pretty damn good. I loved the first two acts, and really liked most of the companions. I thought the endless waves of enemies was a little cheesy, but overall combat was more fun for me in DA2 than it was in DAO.

 

[ATimson]

Actually, I thought the hacky-slashy combat was a huge improvement over DAO's. I could have done without the waves of enemies that appear out of thin air though. Perhaps somewhere in between?

The DLC did a better job with the waves - they at least didn't appear out of thin air.

The ending of DA2 was a problem too wasn't it?

I didn't think it was a problem at all, personally. The only complaint I have about the story is that it's horribly broken nonsense if you play a mage.

 

[Reverend]

Yeah and the fact that in act three, Meridith openly acknowledges that Hawk is quite blatantly an apostate only strained the credibility further. Hence my wondering how they might get around it if the next protagonist is with the Seekers.

As for the ending...I think my main beef was that it wasn't really an ending at all. It was a climax sure, but all we get is a line from future Varric that Hawk ran off, was abandoned by everyone save possibly <insert love interest here> and mysteriously vanished. Not much of a denouement. Of course it's all just because the ending's only real purpose was to set up the next big conflict for DA3 (the Mage-Templar War) but if you have to do that at the expense of the characters then that's just bad storytelling.

Not to go off topic and without getting into spoilers it's a similar problem as ME3's ending. Where all the characters get pushed aside because the writers decided that the plot *must* end at such-and-such a point. One might argue that it's more forgiveable in the case of DA2 because it has to lead into the plot of the next game, but I would argue that in DA2, the characters are more important than the plot and by neglecting them, the impact of the climax was...well, anti-climatic.

 

[PsychoPere]

I was actually fine with the way DA2 ended. Hawke's story was how he/she impacted Kirkwall and played a role in the opening stages of the Mage Rebellion, and that story was told by the end of DA2. Allowing Hawke to mysteriously vanish didn't feel out-of-place to me.

 

[Jeyl]

Jeyl's Suggestions....

1. Bring back titles. Don't simply call it Dragon Age III.

2. Dragon Age Origins story progression. I liked how Dragon Age Origins allowed you to venture to any point you wanted to go and didn't lock you out once you've gotten past a certain point (Well, except for that one town).

3. Combat. While the combat in DAII was ok, the amount of re-spawns I felt broke the immersion. I think we should have a set amount of units with a little higher HP to make our other attacks more important to the strategy.

4. DON'T ABANDON ROMANCING ALL LOVE INTERESTS! I know it's a cheap gimmick, but I love the idea of romancing the love interest characters no matter what the gender of the player character is. It was one of the few elements that offered cool replay value to the game, and it wasn't handled in a "Everyone is bisexual" way (i.e. Anders rescuing his friend (female Hawke) or lover (Male Hawke).

5. Endings, endings, mother frelling endings. The endings to Dragon Age Origins were perfect, diverse and critical. Happy ending, sad ending, uncertain ending, the works.

6. Hawke Companion. This is just me, but have your PC Hawke as a companion who's behavior is dependent on how you handled him/her in DAII. I've never seen anything like that before and I think it would be pretty cool to be able to semi-create a companion who could be any kind of character you'd want to venture out with. Even with the limited choices in DAII, there's still a lot that Hawke did in that game that can greatly affect how the character interacts with the world.

More to come...

 

[RyuRoots]

Dragon Age 3 as a prospect just makes me sad since with all the endless whining about DA2, it'll probably be more like the (IMO) vastly inferior Origins. Origins was a chore to play, and I never felt connected to my Warden the way I did to my Hawke. Colors were dull and uninteresting, and companions overall weren't as good either. About the only problem I had with DA2 was the reused environments and the DLCs seemed to show that they wanted to address that at least in some way.

Ironically, fan feedback is what makes me wary about DA3. I'm hoping it'll be good, but we'll find out eventually.

 

[Yevetha]

6. Hawke Companion. This is just me, but have your PC Hawke as a companion who's behavior is dependent on how you handled him/her in DAII. I've never seen anything like that before and I think it would be pretty cool to be able to semi-create a companion who could be any kind of character you'd want to venture out with. Even with the limited choices in DAII, there's still a lot that Hawke did in that game that can greatly affect how the character interacts with the world.

Maybe you could play the both in 3 like you could split up your squad in Kotor 2.

 

[Silent_Bob]

I rather enjoyed the gameplay of Dragon Age 2. While Origins was a great deal of fun on the PC -and if you have any fond memories of Baldur's Gate you must try the PC version of Origins - it was nowhere near as good on the consoles gameplay wise.

And call me selfish, my console is my main source of gaming so i want a damn good experience when i buy a game for it.
So the more action focused sequel was a lot more fun to play for me. But i can certainly see why PC gamers wouldn't be as thrilled with the changes.

That is not to say i didn't have problems with the game nor want changes to be made in any sequel.

My main issues with Dragon Age 2 revolved around the story and the way it was told. We were told prior to release that it would tell the tale of a ten year chunk of Hawkes life and his/her rise to Champion of Kirkwall.

Which is a great idea, a chance to really focus on a set of characters and show the changes caused by their actions earlier on.

In execution though it left a lot to be desired. There were simply far too many time jumps. Whole years were skipped over. I wasn't expecting 10 years real time of course, that'd be insane, but i did expect to have at least one adventure per year rather than jumping 2 or even 3 years at a time.

And nothing much changed in those jumps. Sure you'd see a character change jobs but there was no meat to the changes.

If i chose to kill someone in year one, i want his family or friends seeking retribution in year five, not a quick conversation with a companion where they tell me about how hard their new promotion at work is.

My own wishes for Dragon Age 3 would be giving us the entirety of the Templar - Mage conflict. Show us the beginnings, middle and end of the war, let our actions at the first battles impact the resolution of the conflict.

And for the love of Andraste a bit more variety in locations would be nice too.

 

[Jeyl]

Ironically, fan feedback is what makes me wary about DA3. I'm hoping it'll be good, but we'll find out eventually.

Fan Feedback can be a good thing if it's done carefully. After all, they're the group that digests the games from a consumer stand point that the developers cannot do themselves no matter how hard they try.

One of the best and worst examples of BioWare using fan feedback was with the handling of Femshep. For both of the Mass Effect games, Male Shepard has been the poster boy of the series with absolutely zero recognition for female Shepard. So when BioWare announced that they would not only be acknowledging Femshep but also giving her a trailer of her own, fans jumped for joy! For me, this made me jump for joy because if Femshep got her own trailer, that would mean it would showcase Jennifer Hale's talents, since I find her to be one of the most talented voice actors in the game.

Where it went south was when BioWare decided to involve the fans in choosing what Femshep should look like. It was meant to be a one poll deal, but when the blonde Femshep won, fans did what they do best. There was an outcry over Blonde Shep being picked for various stupid reasons, so BioWare started another poll to pick Femshep's hair color which ended surprisingly with the blonde hair color in last place.

And in the end, when the new default femshep was showcased, I was happy since the game finally acknowledged that Shepard could be female, and she was voiced by a very talented actress. What I was not happy about was how Femshep looked. Not only is her head freaking huge, she looks like Jolene Blalock with Robert Z'Dar's facial features. But I didn't care all that much. I have my own default femshep so no problem there.

I also believe that involving fans to determine the look of Femshep is what helped cement the idea of entitlement to players who are demanding a new ending.