Dragon Age III Details

[DustyDrB]

I think the concept art looks pretty snazzy.

That's the thing about concept art; It always looks snazzy. Everything does on paper.

OT: At this point I'd be happy if the game simply allowed me to role-play. Remember that, Bioware? But seeing as we're locked into the human role I doubt we'll be getting the same breath that Origins had.

That's kind of what I was trying to imply with the next sentence. But I do remember not liking much of the DA2 concept art. Though a lot of that was them really trying to sell us on the redesigned Darkspawn, which still look awful to me.

 

[Irridium]

I'm cautiously optimistic.

Despite being disappointed in it, I thought Dragon Age 2 had some potential. Hopefully they learned from their mistakes (don't rush the title out in a freaking year, more diverse environments, don't ret-con choices from the previous game).

And there's a few things they could do for having choices carry over. Obsidian did it with KOTOR 2, having you set the choices from the first game at the start through dialog. They could do something similar. Or if all else fails just let us pick what choices we want through a menu at the start or something.

And I really like to hear we take control of our own castle. Hope it's like Awakening where you can upgrade it and stuff. I just really love doing that for some reason.

Also, I want my damn Dalish Elf character back!

I want my Dwarf Noble back.

*grumble grumble*

 

[Casual Shinji]

I think the concept art looks pretty snazzy.

That's the thing about concept art; It always looks snazzy. Everything does on paper.

OT: At this point I'd be happy if the game simply allowed me to role-play. Remember that, Bioware? But seeing as we're locked into the human role I doubt we'll be getting the same breath that Origins had.

That's kind of what I was trying to imply with the next sentence. But I do remember not liking much of the DA2 concept art. Though a lot of that was them really trying to sell us on the redesigned Darkspawn, which still look awful to me.

Well, they were going for that whole pre perspective art style which really didn't work for the DA setting.

 

[putowtin]

David Gaider isn't a bad writer (even though Ander's bullshit at the end of DA2 will go down in history as one of the most BS plot twists ever, alongside everyone killing themselves in the Happening was caused by plant farts) if anything the writing in DA2 was solid it was just that the charecters and setting were bland and uninteresting.

Kinda agree, Ander's sucks.... everything!
But the tie in novels he's penned arn't too bad (as far as gaming tie in novels go)
And Varric rocks, infact he's probably the best thing about DAII

 

[endtherapture]

They better turn the Darkspawn and Elves back to how they used to be in Origins.

Sigh, Origins was so perfect. Such a large game, it was prettier than DA2, had a proper amazing atmosphere, especially around the beginning of the game. I loved it so so much.

No other game can capture that very first genius amazing playthrough of Origins.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

All I want to know is did they put the strategy stuff back in it from the first PC game or is it a crappy action still?

Dragon age is a trilogy right ? So i can buy this one , be disappointed and never buy one again ( like DMC , halo , mass effect , etc...)? So i'll buy this to complet the trilogy , but this is biowares last chance .

At least DMC is fun to play.

 

[putowtin]

snip

snippy

Varric is not only the best god damn thing about DA2 he is also probably one of the better DA charecters in general. He's right up their with Morrigan, Sten, and Alistair in my opinion.

If Hawke was fantasy Shepard then Varric was fantasy Garrus and I wouldn't have it any other way. I really do hope he is a party member in DAIII.

Again Gaider is not a bad writer and he can put together a competent story (by Bioware standards anyway) so yeah I have no real qualms with him being head writer.

Ahh Alistair, one of my favourite gaming characters ever!
(Right up there with Ezio, Garrus and Atton)

Spoiler: The dream team

 

[Fr]anc[is]

Hang on, this guy wrote Fenris? All this time I've been blaming Hepler for that obnoxious broody pre-teen girl's wet dream. This does not bode well at all.

 

[Lt._nefarious]

I don't quite get all the hate being leveled at Bioware, even in this thread alone. Yeah, ME3 had some bafflingly idiotic design choices here and there (I swear being stuck with those 2 chatty security guards is my new vision of hell) and DA2 was 45% utter crap, but the other 55% was pure gold. The combat system was competent and fun but the fights dragged on too long. The world was interesting but it was all copy paste. For every bullshit story twist there was a really good piece of character development. Merril and the pirate lady were quite fun companions, Anders was at least tolerable which is more than I can say for Alistair although the Dwarf and your characters siblings were fucking horrendous...

Anyway I'm sure DA3 will be pretty damn good, a chance to explore a new locale would be nice too...

 

[WFox]

Dragon age is a trilogy right ? So i can buy this one , be disappointed and never buy one again ( like DMC , halo , mass effect , etc...)? So i'll buy this to complet the trilogy , but this is biowares last chance .

No, Dragon Age was never set up as a trilogy. That was one of their excuses for making a new protagonist for DA2. I think the idea was that they make a setting (Thedas/TheDAS- The Dragon Age Setting) in which they could make a bunch of games telling different stories. Though I suppose it's possible that DA3 will be the last.

 

[DustyDrB]

anc[is]Hang on, this guy wrote Fenris? All this time I've been blaming Hepler for that obnoxious broody pre-teen girl's wet dream. This does not bode well at all.

Did he?
Oh....... [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3zCXzJ3NBs]
Does anyone like Fenris? He has to be the most one-note and out-of-place (in his visual design) characters in RPGs. I know he had to write DA2 in a hurry, but geez.

Though I have to say this: Much of what Gaider has written have been good enough for what they are. Origins being one example. He wrote Shale (and HK-47, the original Shale), for crying out loud. How can the same man who wrote Shale also write Fenris? It's like Hepler. She wrote the Dwarven Commoner origin (which is actually my favorite in the first game), but also wrote Anders in DA2.

I guess everyone is capable of stumbling into something bad. Or they can stumble into something good, depending on your perspective.

 

[endtherapture]

Fenris had a cool voice but his visual design was sooooooooooo out of place.

 

[Sonic Doctor]

I think the concept art looks pretty snazzy. We'll see how it translates into the Frostbite 2 engine, though. Otherwise, I think Dragon Age III is at least a very intriguing game regardless of how high or low quality it ends up being. I'm curious about how BioWare (or what's left of it) responds to Dragon Age 2's rather poor reception. They have to be feeling a ton of pressure for this one.

Anyway, thoughts?

I for one loved DA2. The only flaw for me was only having those 6 to 7 dungeons that they reused over and over.

I tried to get into DA:Origins before my copy of DA2 came on launch day, but I just couldn't get into it. I hated the combat, leveling/ability system, characters(all of them felt similar in their premise and make up), and I found the dialogue system to be an archaic jumbled mess.

I hope they don't hose up the revamping that they did with those things in DA2, because those changes were the reason DA2 was my game of the year that year and thought it was worlds better than DA:O.

I'll be okay if they make only slight changes for DA3, but if they totally revert back to what they did with those things in DA:O, it will be a deal breaker for me.

 

[Genocidicles]

If it miraculously turns out to be good I shall still buy it used. I don't want any of my money going to EA.

 

[DrunkOnEstus]

I'm...cautiously optimistic. I've accepted that origins was likely the last time we actually get real dialog options, and not just shades of ambiguous "attitude". That's a really major thing for me but I've accepted the majority wanting a talking PC and not requiring so much reading (being nice...)

I think this game may be the last straw/teetering point for what's left of Bioware. TOR from what I understand hemorrhaged a lot of money from EA. Dragon Age 2 performed under expectations critically and financially, causing most DLC to be cancelled. Mass Effect 3, despite making money, caused a massive fan backlash that required EA to spend money on the development of DLC to fix the ending that they received no money back for. A handful of the biggest players have jumped off the ship.

Due to what I assume are these reasons, Dragon Age 3 is not being rushed, and that some time is being spent making sure it's done right, or at the very least more successful than 2. I think Bioware knows that there's a lot riding on this game, and if it is in a large percentage similar to DA2 then it cannot make back the money that's been put into it over this time. I could be entirely wrong about this, but I can't help but think that this game is incredibly likely to fall into the category of either "redemption that saves the company's future" or "final nail in the coffin for all this wasted money by EA".

Please, no matter what though: Optimize the PC version and make the UI, menus, and combat suited to the platform (does not require being exactly like Origins). Do not wall off a bunch of characters and story as DLC, make a damned Gamestop pre-order bonus of a sword if you want, but don't make me pay 100+ dollars (yeah U.S., I feel for you in other countries) to play the game you made. This game doesn't need multiplayer. Do not divert resources from the single player experience to jam a bunch of people in a field to hit each other with swords and magic.

Thank you for your time and sorry for the long post.

 

[Gennadios]

I just can't get myself to care. I had issues with Origins to begin with. The 3 main quests spanning 3-6 hours each with no respite just felt like a death march, the only reason I got 2 to begin with was because Awakening felt like it was on the right track.

And damn, I didn't hate the mechanics of the game itself, but that ending felt like a prototype for all of ME3's problems.

I may end up getting it on sale if there's no massive shitstorm after release, but BioWare is no longer in a position to sell me anything based on concept art and motivational seminars.