BioWare Ponders "Dragon Age - Tactics"

[Steven Bogos]

BioWare Ponders "Dragon Age - Tactics"

[tweet t=https://twitter.com/BioMarkDarrah/status/700774710565588996]
BioWare producer Mark Darrah has asked fans if they would play a Dragon Age tactical RPG spin-off.

Tactical RPGs are all the rage these days, with Twitter [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/tag/view/xcom%202?os=xcom+2], with 48% of people responding that yes, yes they would.

In a separate Tweet [https://twitter.com/BioMarkDarrah/status/700775488885825537], he confirmed that this potential Dragon Age game would be a turn-based affair, ala XCOM and Fire Emblem. He also clarified that if this game were to happen, it would not replace the mainline Dragon Age series.

He also stated that it would be a "full game" dispelling a concern from a fan that it would be a "microtransaction generator" like The Last Court or Heroes of Dragon Age.

Darrah seems pretty keen on the idea and to be honest, so do I. I'm a big fan of tactical RPGs like XCOM, and seeing the same concept taken to Dragon Age sounds like a perfect match.

Source: GameSpot [https://twitter.com/BioMarkDarrah/status/700775488885825537]

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[Bobular]

I personally think there aren't enough Tactics games at the moment, and Dragon Age actually would lend its self quite well to this type of game.

As long as its done as a full game then I'm all for it and will look forward to seeing more.

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

Isn't Mass Effect better suited for this? I'd play the shit out of a Mass Effect XCOM clone. Holy fuck, just thinking about it gives me a boner.

 

[Hawki]

Heh, let's face it, both Dragon Age and Fire Emblem have the whole romance thing down to a fine art. Don't see why Dragon Age couldn't take gameplay inspiration from Fire Emblem as well.

 

[Liquidcool]

Wasteland 2 on the xbox was a lot of fun. I want more of this.

 

[Nimcha]

No please. Just make Dragon Age 4. Don't try to cash in and then end up delaying the main game.

 

[Willinium]

. . . Wouldn't Mage's range completely destroy the balance of the game? I mean unless you're playing as a Dwarven commander with some mage mercenary's but other wise?

. . . . You know what I think that that would actually work rather well. You are a "Commander" of a battalion of the Legion of the Dead. You are sent out by King Aeducan to carve out some passages of the Deep roads to further contact with Kal-Shorak. However after a titan induced earthquake the passage behind you collapses. It is now a race for survival as you carve your way through the darkspawn horde to safety.

 

[Diablo2000]

Or you know, you could get rid of the MMO combat of Inquisition in favor of something with actual tactics on it.

 

[The Great JT]

I'd be in favor of it. Combat's always been the weakest aspect of Dragon Age, to me, and changing it out with a tactical, grid-based movement system would be to the series' benefit, in my opinion.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

If they treated it with roughly the same regard for complexity/variation as XCOM:EW? Then abso-frikkin'-lutely I'd love to see a turn-based combat game set in DA's 'verse.

...of course, as others have mentioned, they could just add proper strategic combat back into the mainline DA games, but I suppose that's never going to happen after DA:I's puddle shallow spamfest (Tactics scripting really needs to make a return in DA4, no matter how arcadey the combat).

Regardless, there's not nearly enough TB combat on console, so I'd love it. Just don't have us fighting darkspawn, because they're truly boring as fuck, now.

 

[Willinium]

If they treated it with roughly the same regard for complexity/variation as XCOM:EW? Then abso-frikkin'-lutely I'd love to see a turn-based combat game set in DA's 'verse.

Regardless, there's not nearly enough TB combat on console, so I'd love it. Just don't have us fighting darkspawn, because they're truly boring as fuck, now.

I swear that with how oftan I hear people complain about the deep roads(not you) and fighting Darkspawn I swear that it seems like I am one of a few that actually loved both of those aspects. Anyhow I do think it might work. As an example scenario:You are a "Commander" of a battalion of the Legion of the Dead. You are sent out by King Aeducan/Harrowmont to carve out some passages of the Deep roads to further contact with Kal-Shorak. However after a titan induced earthquake the passage behind you collapses. It is now a race for survival as you carve your way through the darkspawn horde to safety.

 

[Ihateregistering1]

. . . Wouldn't Mage's range completely destroy the balance of the game? I mean unless you're playing as a Dwarven commander with some mage mercenary's but other wise?

Assuming the game is turn-based, they could maybe make it so that particularly powerful Mage spells require a turn (or maybe even two) to 'conjure up'. Baldur's Gate did a similar thing with Mages. Higher-level Mage spells were crazy powerful, but they required time to prepare (during which the spell could be interrupted), so you needed Fighters to protect them while they were doing their incantations.

 

[Aerosteam]

They should have had the poll option of "Add more tactics to the next Dragon Age game and make a tactics spin-off for Mass Effect".

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

. . . Wouldn't Mage's range completely destroy the balance of the game? I mean unless you're playing as a Dwarven commander with some mage mercenary's but other wise?

Assuming the game is turn-based, they could maybe make it so that particularly powerful Mage spells require a turn (or maybe even two) to 'conjure up'. Baldur's Gate did a similar thing with Mages. Higher-level Mage spells were crazy powerful, but they required time to prepare (during which the spell could be interrupted), so you needed Fighters to protect them while they were doing their incantations.

You can also balance mages by numbers. Have mages be powerful, but you only have one mage for every 10 people. It would be neat if they went large scale with this as a way to kind of separate it from Xcom.

 

[cthulhuspawn82]

They probably have XCOM in mind with this, but I would much prefer something like Final Fantasy Tactics. I would probably play it either way, unless it was a mobile game.

 

[Aiddon_v1legacy]

. . . Wouldn't Mage's range completely destroy the balance of the game? I mean unless you're playing as a Dwarven commander with some mage mercenary's but other wise?

Actually in Tactics games it's the melee that tend to snap the balance in half. The deadliest combination in FF Tactics was either giving a knight the dual wield ability or giving a ninja heavy armor. All those fancy spells don't mean much when you can just blitzkrieg the guy and turn him into goo before he's finished casting.

 

[Darth Rosenberg]

I swear that with how oftan I hear people complain about the deep roads(not you) and fighting Darkspawn I swear that it seems like I am one of a few that actually loved both of those aspects.

C'mon, what are they? They're just bland orc swaps with even less possible culture. I didn't mind them in Origins at all, as from the very opening quote the Blight and their - ahem... - origins has novel context. But in 2 and Inquisition they're just the most filler of filler mobs to slaughter.

Anyhow I do think it might work. As an example scenario:You are a "Commander" of a battalion of the Legion of the Dead. You are sent out by King Aeducan/Harrowmont to carve out some passages of the Deep roads to further contact with Kal-Shorak. However after a titan induced earthquake the passage behind you collapses. It is now a race for survival as you carve your way through the darkspawn horde to safety.

I really hope - if they try this whole idea - they don't lock it into ho-hum spawn slaying in the Deep Roads (which I actually liked/like, btw) as a bunch of dwarves. That immediately makes the potential forces limited and fairly boring.

To be honest, the more I think about a turn-based BioWare game based on one of their properties, I'd kinda just prefer Mass Effect; with all the specifics classes it's ready made for small, potent squad combat featuring lots of scope for hybrids due to tech and biotic powers. Doing Dragon Age seems far trickier in terms of balancing melee and ranged gameplay.

 

[totheendofsin]

Isn't Mass Effect better suited for this? I'd play the shit out of a Mass Effect XCOM clone. Holy fuck, just thinking about it gives me a boner.

Well Fire Emblem and Xcom are 2 very different Games, I'd say there's room for a Dragon Age Tactices in the style of Fire Emblem and a Mass Effect Tactics in the style of Xcom

 

[Saltyk]

I could easily buy such a game. Turn based tactics games are fun, and Dragon Age would lend itself extremely well to such a system.

. . . Wouldn't Mage's range completely destroy the balance of the game? I mean unless you're playing as a Dwarven commander with some mage mercenary's but other wise?

. . . . You know what I think that that would actually work rather well. You are a "Commander" of a battalion of the Legion of the Dead. You are sent out by King Aeducan to carve out some passages of the Deep roads to further contact with Kal-Shorak. However after a titan induced earthquake the passage behind you collapses. It is now a race for survival as you carve your way through the darkspawn horde to safety.

Well, in games like FFT, mages had decent range, but required time to cast the spell. During this time, the mage was extremely vulnerable. I'm pretty sure they took extra damage while casting, and they already had the lowest health in the game. On the other hand, spells could target multiple enemies, and some could even distinguish friend from foe.

Basically, Mages done right would need support from fighters to cast their spells.