Mass Effect 4 and Dragon Age: Inquisition to Share "Core Systems"

[Kahani]

I do not want the next Dragon Age to be a fantasy Mass Effect, or the next Mass Effect to be a scifi Dragon Age

Fantasy Mass Effect? Sci-fi Dragon Age? Where do I sign up? Making games in different genres within a franchise is not necessarily a bad thing. Team-based top-down tactical RPG in space, set in the Mass Effect universe? Sounds awesome. 3rd person squad shooter/slasher RPG set in the Dragon Age universe? Sounds... well, sounds like TES really, but presumably with more focus on story rather than non-linear open world exploring. Much as enjoyed Dragon Age and the Mass Effect series, I think I'd be pretty happy if the next games were some sort of mash-up of the two.

Captcha - lunatic fridge. Wait, what?

 

[freaper]

Less time worrying about the engine = more time polishing the story and other gameplay mechanics.

's good in my book!

 

[Dragonbums]

I really want to see what they are going to do with Mass Effect 4

Like, what are you gonna do? You either have to continue based the story to varying degrees based on your stupid endings, retcon the whole thing to make it work with minimal effort, or do a prequel of a series of events everyone knows about already.
It was meant to be a trilogy. Let if fucking end as a trilogy.

Like, I don't know how they are going to continue this, and quite frankly I'm not going to sink my money into it like I did for ME3. I'll watch from the sidelines

You know that some people are still hoping for The Indoctrination Theory to be true? I shit you not.

I used to think IT was cool, but the more I think about it, the dumber it gets. Aside from the fact that Bioware shot it down, it's like, who wants to play 60+ hours of gameplay just to realize at the end you didn't actually do shit?

 

[elvor0]

Wow people are seriously getting up in arms about this? Developers use game engines for multiple games all. the. time. I mean fuck look at Elder Scrolls 4/5 and Fallout 3/NV, they use the same inventory screen and chat system. It's unified and works perfectly well for both games. (Well the Skyrim one leaves much to be desired on the PC but I digress) The point is that for the most part it works, and there's no point in reinventing the wheel when the wheel works perfectly fine for the circumstances.

Lets face it, Dragon Age is likely to have an inventory system, it's a fantasy RPG. Y'know what ME 2 and ME3 sorely lacked? A fucking inventory system, so rejoice! Well unless it's like ME1s UI and then it can fuck right off.

Y'know who else reuse "Core Systems" for their games? Fucking Valve. L4D, Portal and Half Life all use the source engine, but do you hate on them for doing so? Of course you fucking don't, because the Source engine is great, and gives them time to do the fun stuff that you actually see, rather than dicking about trying to make a new engine from scratch every time they make a game. Heck even Dark Messiah of Might and Magic used it because it's such a good engine.

 

[hazabaza1]

Calling it now, Dragon Age 3 is a cover based shooter. Has to happen eventually.

 

[bug_of_war]

No... No... if it was like CD projekt Red, Valve, an indie studio, Ubisoft or anyone else I would have called it Efficient. Because there I know that they will still design entire levels on their own.

With EA and Bioware.... Well Dragon Age 2. Where there are about 10 unique rooms copy-pasted 100 times and ME3 where they got so lazy that they just spawn you with an assault rifle or a pistol you didn't have with you in every cutscene.

Wow, so you have 2 games to base this opinion off of...

I can't defend DA2, it did copy paste areas and that is sloppy in a game of this generation. But ME3, the issue you bought up has been there since the first game, and isn't exactly a huge deal seeing as how the game has damn fine voice acting, graphics, sound design and level layouts. Instead of claiming they're being lazy by using 2 different games as proof that they're lazy, look at Valve, and how they use the same average sound files, mediocre graphics, and still manage to make games that people enjoy. Sharing the engine means means that they can spend more time in different areas, thus making it simpler to address other issues quickly.

 

[Reeve]

The design document has a blue cover. So...

CONTROL ENDING MUST BE CANON!!!111;@#}[p1232353gdghjsg,.,.,,

 

[Insideout Ink Demon]

i Bioware, I miss the old you.

I cant see me rushing to get either of these

 

[1337mokro]

No... No... if it was like CD projekt Red, Valve, an indie studio, Ubisoft or anyone else I would have called it Efficient. Because there I know that they will still design entire levels on their own.

With EA and Bioware.... Well Dragon Age 2. Where there are about 10 unique rooms copy-pasted 100 times and ME3 where they got so lazy that they just spawn you with an assault rifle or a pistol you didn't have with you in every cutscene.

Wow, so you have 2 games to base this opinion off of...

I can't defend DA2, it did copy paste areas and that is sloppy in a game of this generation. But ME3, the issue you bought up has been there since the first game, and isn't exactly a huge deal seeing as how the game has damn fine voice acting, graphics, sound design and level layouts. Instead of claiming they're being lazy by using 2 different games as proof that they're lazy, look at Valve, and how they use the same average sound files, mediocre graphics, and still manage to make games that people enjoy. Sharing the engine means means that they can spend more time in different areas, thus making it simpler to address other issues quickly.

It actually wasn't and if it was it should be a testament to their utter laziness in fixing that. Over 3 games they didn't even BOTHER fixing such a glaring issue with the visuals? Oh that says nothing but good things about them

I base this on two games... which were the last released games by that company. It's a game studio, you judge them by their work which the last of their two franchises they currently work on have been utterly lackluster and disastrous depending on opinion.

I enjoy Deadly Premonition. Enjoying something is by NOOOOOOOOoooooo means a measure of quality. I have a number of games I enjoy ironically and some that are just so bat-shit insane crazy and bad they become fucking legendary steamroller rides of amusement and frustration, see the earlier mention of Deadly Premonition.

I already cited Valve as an exemption. I don't know which point you are trying to make? I trust Valve to be able to pull off making 2 games using the same assets! I don't even trust Bioware enough to not photoshop a picture and put it into their game rather than designing a fucking alien character!

 

[Frotality]

you know "dragon effect 2" wasnt a term of endearment, right? why would you release a public statement supporting complaints that you cut corners by using the same core elements for 2 entirely different franchises?

 

[Xyebane]

Well, I'm glad that Bioware is continuing to not disappoint me when I don't buy their games.

 

[Scrythe]

Sure, they both might have Bioware writing, epic storylines, and moral choice systems, but beyond that they're very much different beasts.

Well yeah. Saying that similarities exist between two of any of Bioware's catalog is like saying that Michael Cera plays very similar characters in all of his films.

It's unavoidable, really.

 

[Ren_Li]

...Wait, it's actually called "Mass Effect 4" now? I thought it was going to be a game set in the same universe, but taking a very different direction to the trilogy? I'll admit that I haven't been keeping up on the news, but I sort of assumed it would be set, at the very least, before ME3, if not before the first- it makes more sense, given the endings and that they have such a rich universe and history to work with.
If it's a continuation, and it doesn't manage to facet in every single little decision, I almost certainly won't buy it. Like many others I suspect. I'll probably wait until closer to the time to look into the news and what's going on; I'm avoiding looking at DA:I for now too.

OT: There really isn't enough information to be able to say, well... Anything at all. We don't know what systems will be "shared", or how they'll be altered to fit the "feel" of each game. Sharing core systems well I'm all for- although to be honest, I have no idea what sort of direction they're taking the next Mass Effect in, so there may be ways for it to work better than I can currently see.

 

[Bluestorm83]

Share core systems? Is that a euphemism for them trying to shove the same rod up my backside?

Bioware stopped being a company I am interested in with the Mass Effect 3 ending. Say what you will about me, trolls, but they simply no longer make products I want to buy.

 

[thebobmaster_v1legacy]

Share core systems? Is that a euphemism for them trying to shove the same rod up my backside?

Bioware stopped being a company I am interested in with the Mass Effect 3 ending. Say what you will about me, trolls, but they simply no longer make products I want to buy.

So, anyone who disagrees with you is a troll? Or have you had people verbally attack you for having an opinion? I don't condone the latter, but I just want to make sure you aren't, say, calling me a troll because I liked Mass Effect 3.

 

[Bluestorm83]

Share core systems? Is that a euphemism for them trying to shove the same rod up my backside?

Bioware stopped being a company I am interested in with the Mass Effect 3 ending. Say what you will about me, trolls, but they simply no longer make products I want to buy.

So, anyone who disagrees with you is a troll? Or have you had people verbally attack you for having an opinion? I don't condone the latter, but I just want to make sure you aren't, say, calling me a troll because I liked Mass Effect 3.

Nope, people have actually gotten in my face over this. Honestly, I loved Mass Effect 3. But then I hit the ending (pre extended cut) and it was a broken, garbled, tone-deaf mess that seemed almost as if... Ah, okay. It was almost as if Mass Effect 3 was on its way to work, but was hit by a truck, and they had to do an emergency ending transplant. You know?

If you're okay with it, then I'm genuinely glad you got the satisfaction that you paid for. But I'm very very tired of people replying to me with things like, "But you don't get it, Bioware doesn't owe you anything, you're just buttmad that Shepard is dead, stop whining that the series is over, the ending was too smart for you," and things like that. I get it. I don't care that Shepard died. Bioware DOES owe me what I paid for, a complete product, and that's what I got. But I can be dissatisfied with the content, and I can use that dissatisfaction to say that Bioware simply doesn't make things that I want anymore.

Not saying that they should go out of business, because others might like what they make. But I don't, and that kinda makes me sad, because I'm not seeing any other companies picking up their previously bright-burning torch.

 

[infohippie]

So what is the "core" of a Bioware RPG?

Sleeping with party members, I believe. Everything else is an extra.

TBH, I pretty much gave up on Dragon Age and Mass Effect as series' - I very much regret buying DA2 for full price at release, and that left me wary of buying ME3 at all, and I still have not bought or played it. I will see what reviews have to say after the release of ME4 and DA3 but they will have to be pretty damn glowing reviews, backed up by widespread praise from the audience in general, for me to consider buying either one.

 

[infohippie]

Where are the PC sales for Dragon Age II? Because according to that graph it sold at least a million copies on consoles for a game that was primarily for the PC crowd... for its short development cycle and cost of production that's pretty damn good.

It most certainly was NOT a failure.

How in the world was Dragon Age 2 "primarily for the PC crowd"? It was a highly console-oriented game, with its "awesome button", the waves of enemies, the focus on action rather than tactics, and the general simplification all round. PC gamers bought it because we loved Dragon Age Origins, and we were lied to about what DA2 was going to be like. It was designed for the console crowd.