Poll: So does anyone still care about Dragon Age?

[kingthrall]

the other thing I hated was the lack of evil aligned NPC. I really disliked the way they tried to force this whole Neutrality issue in the game instead of just going with the flow and letting the player just make the choice he wants. There isnt a single power hungry greedy character in the game for your party.

 

[Jaeke]

the other thing I hated was the lack of evil aligned NPC. I really disliked the way they tried to force this whole Neutrality issue in the game instead of just going with the flow and letting the player just make the choice he wants. There isnt a single power hungry greedy character in the game for your party.

Merril?

Isabela up until the end of the 2nd act?

Sebastian, although in the name of justice and "light" is kind of an ass and is power hungry for his throne back.

 

[Woodsey]

Not the series.

I'm sure I'll play Origins again at some point - loved it. But I'm not convinced BioWare knows what they're doing anymore; not because of ME3, funnily enough - but now that's ended they don't seem to have a grasp on anything.

I am kind of interested to know just what they thought the good parts of DA2 were though, since they reckon they're going to have "the good bits from both" in DA3. And... yeah.

 

[JediMB]

I have a degree of excitement for Dragon Age 3. I really like the world, and I love how the characters were written in both games.

However, I'm a very cautious BioWare fan now. Not pre-ordering, no matter how fancy the related rewards seem. I'll be patiently waiting for professional and user reviews alike to make it out before I spend any more money on them, and keep my eyes/ears open for whatever controversies that may arise.

 

[JediMB]

the other thing I hated was the lack of evil aligned NPC. I really disliked the way they tried to force this whole Neutrality issue in the game instead of just going with the flow and letting the player just make the choice he wants. There isnt a single power hungry greedy character in the game for your party.

Dragon Age isn't about good and evil, though. It's about characters with their various desires and creeds. And thank the fucking Maker for that, because having these avatars of good and evil in your party (with the player being able to choose a side) rarely ever works.

Still, Merrill deals with demons, Isabela can potentially steal and disappear with a religious artifact that has sparked an invasion, Fenris is filled with an irrational hatred for mages, and Anders goes more or less completely insane.

EDIT: However, forcing the player down the path of fighting both sides in Act 3 was idiotic. It wasn't as much of a letdown as ME3's ending, but Orsino spins wildly out of character if you're on his side when he spontaneously loses hope and goes Blood Mage. Also, the way you're forced to slaughter both sides because they assume you're on the other side (and you're not given a chance to talk) is headache-inducing.

 

[Tohuvabohu]

Well, Dragon Age: Origins was a fucking excellent game.

Dragon Age 2 was a fucking terrible game. No exaggeration, I felt this game was through-and-through a goddamned disgrace.

That being said, I am cautious about Dragon Age 3. This is their chance to make up for the cruel joke they played on me with Dragon Age 2. If this one turns out to suck too, well then I'll be done with Bioware and never buy another game of theirs again.

 

[Blatherscythe]

Here's my pipeline dream that's barely related to this. Bioware should combine DA and ME. Give us all of the standard fantasy elements of dwarves, elves, dragons, and magic. Then set that shit in the future. IN SPACE. Suddenly you have dragon-slaying snipers and wizards shooting down spaceships. Fuck yeah.

It's been done, it's called Warhammer 40,000. Though their version of dwarves got eaten by space locusts.

OT: Not really. As far as I'm concerned it ended with the first game.

 

[devotedsniper]

All i have to say is that i hope DA3 doesn't follow DA2 but follows the better Origins. Dragon Age 2 was a huge disappointment to me.

 

[ZippyDSMlee]

They pretty much scuttled the IP and dead space is next.....give more of DA:O with better AI scripting and control of my group with more stuff to enhance hell ya I will buy into it!

 

[Kelethor]

Here's my pipeline dream that's barely related to this. Bioware should combine DA and ME. Give us all of the standard fantasy elements of dwarves, elves, dragons, and magic. Then set that shit in the future. IN SPACE. Suddenly you have dragon-slaying snipers and wizards shooting down spaceships. Fuck yeah.

It's been done, it's called Warhammer 40,000. Though their version of dwarves got eaten by space locusts.

OT: Not really. As far as I'm concerned it ended with the first game.

Man I miss Space Dwarves....

OT: Yes. Im willing to let DA3 Be Biowares third (potential) strike.

 

[tautologico]

I actually didn't think DA2 was that bad. Not a great game, and certainly nowhere near as good as DA:O, but I don't agree with the majority of the hate.
Probably because any of the retconned choices matched up with my actual choices and I still found the gameplay to be enjoyable enough.

Indeed, DA2 has its problems, it was obviously rushed, and it's not as good as DA:O by a long shot, but it was not a bad game. It just wasn't up to the standard of the first. People hate DA2 because hating is more fun than having a balanced opinion, I guess.

 

[ThePenguinKnight]

I was interested in trying it out until I played the demo for the second game, I know it's different play styles but if that's where the series is going I mind as well save myself the trouble in the first place.

 

[zefiris]

Dragon Age: origins was ok (really, though, had you cut the arch demon, the game would have been SO much better. The Logain plot was the best part)

DA2 was really quite bad. Objectively, it really was a bad game all around. The saving grace were the characters, the story was garbage, as was the gameplay and level design.

I won't buy DA3 on release, unlike DA2. I might try it later, a few months after release, if word of mouth is good. SO yeah, meh camp for me.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

How do you say.... AW HELL NAW! DA2 was a mess.

 

[TheCommanders]

I would like to see Dragon Age 3. I liked parts of Dragon Age 2, and more in Origins, and from what I can tell it looks like the new one will be a hybrid, which would be cool. They are sticking with a voiced protagonist, and apparently I'm the only one who thinks that's a good thing. Sorry, but being the only nonspeaking character in a voiced world just bothers me. I'm looking at you Half Life.

All that said, I would rather see Bioware make a new IP, not that their EA overlords would allow that, but hey, I can dream.


EDIT: Whoops, that was all I had to say until I read this:

Dragon Age had interpersonal relationships but they weren't so horribly divided. They felt natural, and not pointless, and every character had a purpose.
In DA2 it felt like none of your followers were even aware of the existance of the others. They didn't play off of eachother very well at all and it all just sucked.

I'm pretty sure I must have read that backwards. One of the few things I liked better about DA2 was the way that the companions interacted and had their own relationships independent of Hawke. Let's compare:

Origins:
-Companions conversed while traveling the world
-Companions stood in one place at all times when not with the Warden and did nothing
-Companions had one mission each, usually very trivial
-Companions could receive gifts
-Companions were your friends, or hated you and left
-Companions could be romanced completely in about 5 minutes in camp

DA2:
-Companions conversed while traveling the world
-Companions were shown interacting with each other while Hawke is not around (example: Isabella and Merrill playing a game of chance)
-Companions have story lines independent of Hawke (examples: Anders trying to talk Merrill out of using blood magic, and Varric and Anders' relationship over the corse of the three acts, Varric protecting Merrill in the big city)
-Companions were shown to have their own lives and problems that didn't always involve Hawke (Aveline dealing with the templars and Isabella trying to locate her lost treasure)
-Companions had their own homes
-Companions could receive gifts
-Companions each had story arcs in which Hawke participated that were larger than just a trivial fetch quest (helping Fenris deal with the slavers, helping or reprimanding Merrill in her dealings with sprits and the Elluvian)
-Companions were either friends or rivals, and their interactions with you changed based on your choice
-Companions had romantic story lines that spanned the three acts of the game

Now, one could debate which cast of characters were individually more interesting or better written, but that is a matter of opinion. As to how the companions were handled as a group and how the mechanics of working with them were integrated into the game, DA2 was objectively better, hands down.

 

[Clearing the Eye]

Dragon Age: Origins has too much combat for my taste. Haven't played Dragon Age 2 yet. I guess I still care.

 

[Gennadios]

I'm not buying another Bioware game again. Even if 3 turns out better than DA2 by leaps and bounds, I'm kind of over BW writing.

 

[Mikeyfell]

Well, Dragon Age Origin is the best Bioware game by far, and possibly the second best game this console generation period.

Dragon Age 2 was bad, but not series damningly bad (Like Mass Effect 3 was) because it was far enough disconnected from DA:O.

And since I'm never going to play Dragon Age 3 because Bioware is run by cunts and their creative directors are about as smart as someone who's been shot in the head 3 or 4 times, and I'll be buggered if I ever touch anything to come out of EA's money grubbing fuck shit ass damn hole. My experience with Dragon Age is a net positive, so yeah I still care about it.

 

[Hattingston]

I far preferred Dragon Age 2 to Origins. The combat was faster paced, the art style was interesting, I liked almost all the characters, and found the story engaging. The only character who I actively liked in Origins was Shale, I didn't find the story even remotely interesting, I REALLY hated the graphics, and the combat was very slow paced, which I didn't care for. All Origins had going for it (from my perspective) was more polish.

So, if Dragon Age 3 continues in the direction Dragon Age 2 did, absolutely. If not...maybe.

 

[chainguns]

I far preferred Dragon Age 2 to Origins. The combat was faster paced, the art style was interesting,

I think you got some of the reasons why the DAO people were unhappy. The combat went from tactical to action (mainly by speeding it up x3 and replacing hand placed enemies with multi-wave spawns of generic enemies), and the art went from dark fantasy to cartoony.

It's OK to prefer action combat. It's OK to prefer a cartoon art style. It's just that 99% of games already have that. DAO was old-school (ish), that's why you got all the hate when DA2 took the whole IP into the mainstream.

OT - don't care for DA now. Mike Laidlaw is still lead designer and he doesn't get what made DAO a great RPG. EA is still pulling his strings. EA told the DAO executive producer Dan Tudge to 'cut the manual' in DAO because it would put off the the action teens. He resigned. They told the DAO lead designer Brent Knowles to make DA2 - he resigned. DA3 will be a generic action RPG, forgotten as quickly as things like Amalur and Arcania.