2816 réponses à ce sujet

[Pstrangler]

I am anxious for DA3. Please bring back the RPGness of DA1, the combat in DA2 was fluid and cool but I prefer dressing and outfitting all of my party, I don`t mind losing a cleavage here or there.

Please make it a prequel: I want to know King Maric and the young Loghain, or maybe previous blights.
I want to play in Orlais or Antiva as well.

I have seen too much Qunari, they are not that interesting, please no more Qunari.

I love you, I am currently enjoying ME3

[Meris]

Realmzmaster wrote...

You are kidding about DAO's gameplay not being simplified? DAO is the game that started the simplifiction of the RPG elements in Bioware's games as compared to their ealier titles.

To be fair, the most complicated portions of older, dnd based, games was the issue of you not knowing how things work - which would normally happen because many things weren't well presented. The tooltips assumed you knew how DnD 2nd ed works and I've seen it's vets having trouble explain its more counter intuitive mechanics, like THAC0.

[TheBlackBaron]

Dave of Canada wrote...

Make Rivalry some other color, red is often implied to be bad and this causes many people to view it as something negative despite it being a very viable alternate route. Possibly changing the bar to dark green for example, also changing the terms or describing it more ingame would help. This would stop people from dismissing rivalry as a "bad" thing.

I think they'd be better served with simply doing away with colors or symbols for them entirely, so Bioware's blessed Paragon children don't get confused via their now ingrained assumption of "blue=good, everything else=bad". The names, I think, are fine. 

[Dasha Dreyson]

Kavatica wrote...

Silfren wrote...

Firky wrote...
*snip*

*snip*

Yes. This. It has made for some slightly awkward telephone conversations.

Friend: "Are you listening to me?"
Me: "Toooootally."
Friend: "What's that noise in the background?" 
Me: "Noooothing?"

Seriously. My family (including my mom who calls all the time) was not amused when I told them I wouldn't be paying any attention until the cut scene was over. I didn't think any were that long, but they did.

[Realmzmaster]

Darji wrote...

Realmzmaster wrote...

Darji wrote...

Yrkoon wrote...

Darji wrote...

For example: How does Bethesda do it with all these armors they have? Do they each armor for every race and every height and weigt combination that is possible? I dont really think so. 

In fact they do.  And Bioware also did it in DA:O.  The process is complex and time consuming because seperate meshes for each piece of armor have to be made in order to fit the different races and genders.  Take the Blood Dragon armor.  it has to be  "remade" to fit  Sten, since he's a giant.  It also has to be re made to fit a Female Human because she's got breasts....  And a male Dwarf because he's short and stocky.  You then have to do the same thing with every piece of armor in the game

Time consuming.  And in game development, time consuming means  resource consuming.

But that's the nature of the beast, and why fans will eagerly spend money on an RPG that allows for such customization.  If Bioware wants to  cut  corners then fine.  But this is the kind of stuff that  I look at when determining whether I'm going to shell out $60 bucks to buy their game.

Than how did people create the Witcher 2 armor for geralt and trish in skyrim in like a day?

Ther must be some autofitfunction. Again modders do that in a day or 2 and we are talking about profesionals. And the modders one often look even much much better than the original ones.  

Modders take an already existing piece from the game and modify it. This is much different from creating the look of the armor from scratch.

are great thank you I was waiting for this information XD but why does Bioware need to create everything from a scratch when the modders in Skyrim do not need that and they look totally different too?

The designers of Skyrim have already designed the armor in the game. The Skyrim modders are taking existing pieces out of the game and modifying it. The creation toolkit allows them access to all the data files and images in the game. The same with the DAO toolkit and before that NWN had a toolkit. Dragon Age 2 does not have a toolkit because it uses to many third party tools in its creation. Bioware would have to pay a license fee to all those third parties to release a toolkit for DA2.

The designers of Skyrim had a five year development cycle. Part of that time was spent developing the different armor types and weapons for each race.

[LPPrince]

Crazy Eyed One wrote...

A few ideas that I have for DA3 is:

Sheathes - I don't know about anyone else but I find it a bit boring when everyone has their weapon on their back. This gives an interesting form of customisation, it can reflect companions personalities, and you should be able to enchant them to give your weapon an extra edge.

If you don't mind me adding to this-

I really like this idea. Imagine being able to sheathe bladed weapons and have the sheathes affect the weapon inside them, or in the case of archery have the quivers affect the arrows shot from the bow.

Let me explain-

You have a longsword. Okay, great.

Say its The Longsword of Frost or whatever, and does +10 Frost Damage per strike.

Okay, now lets imagine that you have a sheathe. Note that the sheathe will hold any sword you carry, so its not like you have more than one.

What if you could modify said sheathe? Say, throw a fire ruby on it, which gives whatever weapon you have +5 Fire Damage no matter what sword you use?

Its effectively a way of giving all of your weapons an upgrade without sacrificing the upgrade when you switch between weapons of the same type. Like when Sandal enchants a weapon, only the enchantments in this case will affect all your swords, as long as your wielding it.

Also, you can remove and replace any modification to your sheathe at will, so if you're going into a place filled with dragons for example, you can switch out that fire ruby mod with a dragonstone mod, that may give your sword an extra +10 Damage to Dragons.

Get it?

Same thing with archery. Since you're not gonna be sheathing a bow, instead the quiver will act as the sheathe for archers. Same deal- modify at will, will fit the situation at hand, and all of your bows will be affected by the mod, as long as its the bow you have equipped.

I think this would be an interesting in-universe way of giving the player a choice of upgrades.

[WardenWade]

Satyricon331 wrote...

Mark Darrah wrote...
If the story demands a human-only (or dwarf, elf, or qunari only for that matter) than we would do that.

That's a really negative development, in my view.  For me, designing my own character is a big part of the fun in roleplaying games.  I spend tons of time in character creation, and even in strategy games I'll spend lots of time customizing my race or civ or whatever.

Plus, the story "benefit" that came from having a railroaded character design just wasn't there for me in DA2.  Coming from a noble family and having a rise-to-power story arc felt at odds to me (not incompatible, just in unhappy tension), and having hte family be from Kirkwall (in that generation, no less) undercut the immigrant idea.  Those background elements felt like just a contrivance to rationalize taking away character options, and personally I doubt a future story could pull it off.  If a character's background is really so specialized then the character might be better as a companion, imo.

I wasn't as fond of having a single pregenerated backstory, either, Satyricon331.  Origins did this as well, but I also had 5 other options available to explore as I chose, and personally that made an enormous difference in enjoyment and replay value.  Playable races have not been ruled out in future games, for which I am extremely grateful, and Mr. Darrah has said IIRC that nothing is set in stone at this early date.  However, I too desire if it's at all feasible for races and greater customization to be available to us again all in one game rather than parceled out among future titles.  I do hope Bioware considers a story in DA3 that doesn't remove that freedom, as that still would clearly be the ideal for many here.  I understand there are many factors that go into a decision like this, and I hope the devs consider our feedback carefully on this score.

Speaking for myself, I'm a human every day of my life.  Dragon Age is a chance to be something else

Modifié par WardenWade, 21 mars 2012 - 01:06 .

[Alain Baxter]

Fast Jimmy wrote...

I honestly don't envy the guys at Bioware the job of making DA3. Its going to be an uphill battle all the way through Release Day and beyond. One group of fans spits on the ground anytime they hear the word "Dragon Age" because of how much they disliked 2, another group is torn up that the cliff hanger ending of DA2 won't be resolved while playing their Hawke. Still others like both games and are pleased by the word you do, while others have demands that no game in the history of man has met as of yet.

What I would suggest is not making a type of game, with certain features or characteristics, but rather create something that is FUN. That sucks the player in. I don't care if you have fast combat, slow combat or combat that is done through playing cards... if the end result is enjoyable and addictive, your game will be successful.

Don't be so tunnel-vision focused on completing X feature that you forget to realize that this feature is absoultely no fun in the context of the game at large. PLAY your game. And let others, not just professional testers, but people like those seen on these forums. The type of players you are looking to convince. Have them spend ten, twenty, forty hours tweaking with your game before it goes Gold and let them tell you what's right, what's wrong, what they were hoping to see, etc.

Otherwise, they'll blast your game on the internet, tell none of their friends to buy your game, and THEN tell you what you need to change here. Its just smarter business to put a semi-finished game in front of your most loyal but critical fans and build off of there, rather than send it for a few weeks with the testers, have it go gold for two months, then find a wealth of things that were, in retrospect, just badly thought out because you were so focused on objectives that you missed the fact that the overall experience was not what you had visioned at all.

Less project plans, more proactive participation. When a whole segment of your fanbase freaks out at a feature, idea or concept, then MAYBE its a good idea to either tweak it or scrap it, instead of just assuming it "won't be a big deal." I've yet to see Bioware make a move like this that didn't turn out to be a big deal.

Excellent point! With game development, getting the game to a functional state as quickly as possible is key. If you can do this by late pre-production, you have a great oppurtunity to iterate and improve of what you have for a long period of time. This is key. Once you have gameplay, you can then begin to understand and see the fun.

Great idea on sharing this with fans early in development. Noted.

[SarNoire]

Sad for no more DA2 DLC an Awakening like expansion would have been cool. I loved both games in the franchise and am very excited for you guys to expand more on Thedas. Much awesome!

[Cantina]

Here is what I think needs to be improved…


*The armor designs need to be better.

I always play a mage in
DA2 the problem I ran into was trying to find gear that did not make me look
like I was fighting in a dress or a bathrobe. I despised the Mage Champion
armor and refused to wear it. Adding in a large variety of armor would be
welcomed and allow people to choose what you want your character to be. You
could have armor (for a mage as an example) that is sexy or perhaps you want
your mage to be sexy and a battle mage, things like that. Furthermore, more
staff types would be welcomed. Every staff I ran across was ugly as hell, not
to mention the giant light bulb on a stick from the DLC “Legacy.”

 

*Recycled locations.

I do not mind if a dungeon is used (again)
once or twice, but when you reuse the same place repeatedly, it becomes clear
there was no thought put in place and it was just laziness. There is nothing
more amazing then stepping into a dungeon and being awestruck by the environment
and not knowing what to expect. Make dungeons larger, more complex and
involved. If you step into a dungeon with the same layout as the previous
quest, you already know what to expect and where to go, which takes the fun out
of going into a dungeon in the first place.



*More Interactions with your companions.

I loved in DAO you
could speak to you companions any time you chose too. It did not bother me standing
there for a half an hour talking to them. It allowed me to get to know the
companion more instead of just opening the journal and reading who they are. It
is called “attachment” when you remove that it makes the companions feel out of
place-detached.



*Romances

The romances in DA2 were disappointing. I know that romance
is not as important to some people, but me as a role player is, it is. It makes
the game more interesting when you are involved with someone. I really do not
understand how the blood and gore was scaled up, but the romance scenes were
scaled down. I also think adding in the option (if you are in a romance with
someone) to speak to him or her when you choose would be a nice idea, if not adding
in what I previously mentioned. I just am a bit nervous seeing how the romances
played out in DA2 if they are going to be worse come DA3.

 


*People noticing what you are.

This bugged me in DA2, some
people knew you were a mage, others did not know what you were. A good example
of this is during the quest “Enemies among us.” Cullen saw you casting spells,
knew you were a mage, but when you speak to him at the end of the quest, you
have the option to say, “Hey, I’m a mage.” Considering I was an apostate
running around Kirkwall, I assumed at some point I would be ambushed by Templars
trying to arrest me. It would be interesting to see your class, have consequences
in the game, until or unless you complete a quest. Once it is complete you are
safe for now, but your choices later on may or may not remove the safety net.

 

*Companion involvment

Companions should be more involved with your quests. After
Act 1, asking companions with help on a certain quest seemed to become nonexistent. Its my hope that companions play more parts into your quest in DA3.




*More talk from your character.

I liked the fact in the DLCs,
Hawke started or interacted with conversations, especially ones with your
romance. I would like to see this applied to the future of Dragon Age. I also
would like to see companions comment more on your romance choice. This would
add in some rather interesting conversations.

 

More spells please.

It took me a while but I did not mind the new system of how
spells were set-up. My problem was there was not a whole lot to choose. Many
spells I enjoyed in DAO were removed in DA2. Spells like Blizzard for example
was one spell I used often. I do not miss spells like “Earthquake” though, that
damn thing was annoying. I love to see a passive ability that allows your
spells to use less mana because with the Force Mage spell set, I was drinking
mana like it was soda pop.



*Potions please –especially in crafting.


I have no idea whose bright idea it was to decrease the
amount of mana and stamina pots you get in game, much less not being able to
craft them, but excuse me for saying this, they need to be slapped. This needs
to be addressed in DA3, being able to craft mana and stamina potions.  If you are in a long fight, you can go through
potions rather quickly. I hated in DA2, trying to run around and find a merchant,
whom I did not purchase potions. Using restorations potions, as compensation
was a half ass means of working, but it mostly fell into the category of
desperation.

 

*Companion Armor

I missed being able to equip my companions with any armor I
chose. I hope in the next installment being able to equip your companions yourself,
makes a comeback.


Finally, Mr Gaider, please, please do not kill Hawke or Anders, I worked my butt off getting them as a couple and having them runaway together. And try not to make what happened after Kirkwall turn into some cheesey romance soap opera.

Modifié par Cantina, 21 mars 2012 - 01:15 .

[IAmTheMP]

slashthedragon wrote...

I just have to say, on other sites where there is love for DA:2, a lot of people are upset, devastated even. It is obvious more content is needed, otherwise there are 3 unfinished story arcs.
Just now that DA:3 is now seen as a 'wait to buy' game. People want to make sure there is an actual, satisfying conclusion to the game before spending money and time on it.

I've seen it too. Unfortunately it's being buried under ME3 and DA3 stuff so I have zero hope for a change of heart. 
I did have faith that they wouldn't sweep another of my characters under the rug, at least not this blatently.

Modifié par IAmTheMP, 21 mars 2012 - 01:12 .

[LPPrince]

I think the problem with the "vision" behind the games is that when DAO was completed, a lot of fans(me included) expected the franchise to be made in that format, with that "vision", that style of game.

Then DA2 immediately went in a completely different direction. Yikes. I think it would've been better received if it was DA4 or 5, but not so soon.

Hence me hoping DA3 is more of a DAO2 than anything.

[Realmzmaster]

Meris wrote...

Realmzmaster wrote...

You are kidding about DAO's gameplay not being simplified? DAO is the game that started the simplifiction of the RPG elements in Bioware's games as compared to their ealier titles.

To be fair, the most complicated portions of older, dnd based, games was the issue of you not knowing how things work - which would normally happen because many things weren't well presented. The tooltips assumed you knew how DnD 2nd ed works and I've seen it's vets having trouble explain its more counter intuitive mechanics, like THAC0.

Never had any problems in that area. The manuals that came with BG1 and 2 even NWN were comprehensive. I did have an advantage in having played most if not all the major p n p systems out there. But DAO did borrow simplifications from the MMO's.

[VKmasa]

Best news i've read in ages, the end of DA2!
The most horrendous excuse of a game.

[BomimoDK]

Detachable cam would be a welcome return. I remember some demo vids of DA2 from... Was it late 09 or 10? (christ i forgot what year DA2 was released? WTH???) Where Laidlaw demoed the combat for us showing us that it was still very tactical and retained proper control and such. Well It had an angled detachable cam that seemed not to require the "roofing" that was cited as a reason to do away with Isometric (I was fine with that really... loosing it, that is).

I'd love that back simply because jumping between characters by clicking their portraits (snapping) is extremely confusing and having to load a few secs is also damn obstructive when i could just have given the order from the distance. Not only did i sit through multiple nuisances, i also totally lost my bearings and any understanding of my characters situation in the context of the whole battle-situation.

Also again, removing the invisible barrier that prevents me from splitting up the party for a surround and such.

I don't mean to sound demanding, but if i'm to play and enjoy these tactical RPGs, I need the tools to play them as such. As much as we adjust to DA2's camera, i can't help but cuss and **** and moan loudly when i'm stuck in a corner and can't get an overview. There really isn't any sense in not having a camera that snaps off the character after zooming out far enough.

[BomimoDK]

Realmzmaster wrote...

Meris wrote...

Realmzmaster wrote...

You are kidding about DAO's gameplay not being simplified? DAO is the game that started the simplifiction of the RPG elements in Bioware's games as compared to their ealier titles.

To be fair, the most complicated portions of older, dnd based, games was the issue of you not knowing how things work - which would normally happen because many things weren't well presented. The tooltips assumed you knew how DnD 2nd ed works and I've seen it's vets having trouble explain its more counter intuitive mechanics, like THAC0.

Never had any problems in that area. The manuals that came with BG1 and 2 even NWN were comprehensive. I did have an advantage in having played most if not all the major p n p systems out there. But DAO did borrow simplifications from the MMO's.

having them only in PDF form does make it quite an endeavour to understand it. Mind you, i play BGT and have an old MAC manual for BG2 so i'm covered up to and including the 2.7 mill XP barrier. That leaves, on average, levels 22-27 to 40 uncovered.

[Sightness]

Cantina wrote...



Here is what I think needs to be improved…


*The armor designs need to be better.

I always play a mage in
DA2 the problem I ran into was trying to find gear that did not make me look
like I was fighting in a dress or a bathrobe. I despised the Mage Champion
armor and refused to wear it. Adding in a large variety of armor would be
welcomed and allow people to choose what you want your character to be. You
could have armor (for a mage as an example) that is sexy or perhaps you want
your mage to be sexy and a battle mage, things like that. Furthermore, more
staff types would be welcomed. Every staff I ran across was ugly as hell, not
to mention the giant light bulb on a stick from the DLC “Legacy.”

 

*Recycled locations.

I do not mind if a dungeon is used (again)
once or twice, but when you reuse the same place repeatedly, it becomes clear
there was no thought put in place and it was just laziness. There is nothing
more amazing then stepping into a dungeon and being awestruck by the environment
and not knowing what to expect. Make dungeons larger, more complex and
involved. If you step into a dungeon with the same layout as the previous
quest, you already know what to expect and where to go, which takes the fun out
of going into a dungeon in the first place.



*More Interactions with your companions.

I loved in DAO you
could speak to you companions any time you chose too. It did not bother me standing
there for a half an hour talking to them. It allowed me to get to know the
companion more instead of just opening the journal and reading who they are. It
is called “attachment” when you remove that it makes the companions feel out of
place-detached.



*Romances

The romances in DA2 were disappointing. I know that romance
is not as important to some people, but me as a role player is, it is. It makes
the game more interesting when you are involved with someone. I really do not
understand how the blood and gore was scaled up, but the romance scenes were
scaled down. I also think adding in the option (if you are in a romance with
someone) to speak to him or her when you choose would be a nice idea, if not adding
in what I previously mentioned. I just am a bit nervous seeing how the romances
played out in DA2 if they are going to be worse come DA3.

 


*People noticing what you are.

This bugged me in DA2, some
people knew you were a mage, others did not know what you were. A good example
of this is during the quest “Enemies among us.” Cullen saw you casting spells,
knew you were a mage, but when you speak to him at the end of the quest, you
have the option to say, “Hey, I’m a mage.” Considering I was an apostate
running around Kirkwall, I assumed at some point I would be ambushed by Templars
trying to arrest me. It would be interesting to see your class, have consequences
in the game, until or unless you complete a quest. Once it is complete you are
safe for now, but your choices later on may or may not remove the safety net.

 

*Companion involvment

Companions should be more involved with your quests. After
Act 1, asking companions with help on a certain quest seemed to become nonexistent. Its my hope that companions play more parts into your quest in DA3.




*More talk from your character.

I liked the fact in the DLCs,
Hawke started or interacted with conversations, especially ones with your
romance. I would like to see this applied to the future of Dragon Age. I also
would like to see companions comment more on your romance choice. This would
add in some rather interesting conversations.

 

More spells please.

It took me a while but I did not mind the new system of how
spells were set-up. My problem was there was not a whole lot to choose. Many
spells I enjoyed in DAO were removed in DA2. Spells like Blizzard for example
was one spell I used often. I do not miss spells like “Earthquake” though, that
damn thing was annoying. I love to see a passive ability that allows your
spells to use less mana because with the Force Mage spell set, I was drinking
mana like it was soda pop.



*Potions please –especially in crafting.


I have no idea whose bright idea it was to decrease the
amount of mana and stamina pots you get in game, much less not being able to
craft them, but excuse me for saying this, they need to be slapped. This needs
to be addressed in DA3, being able to craft mana and stamina potions.  If you are in a long fight, you can go through
potions rather quickly. I hated in DA2, trying to run around and find a merchant,
whom I did not purchase potions. Using restorations potions, as compensation
was a half ass means of working, but it mostly fell into the category of
desperation.

 

*Companion Armor

I missed being able to equip my companions with any armor I
chose. I hope in the next installment being able to equip your companions yourself,
makes a comeback.


Finally, Mr Gaider, please, please do not kill Hawke or Anders, I worked my butt off getting them as a couple and having them runaway together. And try not to make what happened after Kirkwall turn into some cheesey romance soap opera.

i cannot agree more on this post, beautifully said!

[hunterxx1xx]

Mark Darrah wrote...

Yrkoon wrote...

Mark Darrah wrote...

jlb524 wrote...

I don't know if this has been discussed.

So...can I play as an elf?

Is this even on the table or will it be human-only again?

If the story demands a human-only (or dwarf, elf, or qunari only for that matter) than we would do that.

An advantage of a single player race is that it allows us to offer a lot more customization options. Customization is definately a place we want to focus.

What?  Can you elaborate here?  How, exactly, does removing the ability to choose from difference races increase customization options?  Doesn't basic logic dictate the complete opposite?

Sorry, let me clarify:
This would allow us to have greater numbers of armor, clothing etc...

Origins had multiple races and plenty of customization. DA2 had one race and cut back on customization. Strange.

[CoS Sarah Jinstar]

Upsettingshorts wrote...

Tsuga C wrote...

"I just don't understand why they are so veheimently against showing the full line. It would make both sides happy, those that hate to read and those of us who want to actually role play and not feel like we're guessing in every conversation in the game."

Cuz we dont want to be bothered like, ya know, readin' an' doin' borin' stuff like dat, u sily gurl! We wants more 'sploshuns!!!11!1

Tsuga C apparently doesn't like to read either because the reasons people dislike the full line have been explained eloquently and at length for over a year now on this very forum.

Cuz he dont want to be bothered like, ya know, to understand other peeps preferences and would rather ignorantly belittle them like a self-righteous, entitled jerk!11!

Giving the option would be so wrong and evil why Shorts? And explain it to me because I never once saw one good reason given aside from "console real estate" which is a cop out in regards to the PC version.

I've also never seen a good reason to explain the paraphrasing implimented the way it is. I get it, you don't care what your PC says , granted that isn't roleplaying but let's not get into that circular arguement because neither side will budge anyway.  Course that's the same camp that couldn't care less about party customization in a party based CPRG which also makes me shake my head in bedazzlement.   

[Alain Baxter]

BrianRB wrote...

Let's see...

Nov 2009 -- Dragon Age: Origins (excellent game) is released.

Mar 2010 (5 months later) -- "Awakenings" expansion pack (excellent game) is released.

____________________________

Mar 2011 (1 year after "Awakenings") -- DA2 (mediocre game) is released.

Mar 2012 (1 year later) -- it's announced that there won't be an expansion pack, and they're "working" on the new... thing.

_________________________

I think we're seeing a trend here, and it's not a good one. DA:O was a great game, with a lot of DLC -- and not just gadget packs, but playable games, with a terrific expansion pack.

But now the cycles are taking longer to get less, and what we do get isn't anywhere near as good.

This series seems to me to be going downhill.

With DA:O, we not only had the expansion pack, we had 5 other playable stories. DA2 we had 2, and no expansion pack.

I noted some early comments in which people mentioned the lack of resolution to Hawk's story. Well, what about the Warden from Origins? I wonder if ANY of these story lines are ever going to be resolved?

Now, I did read an article on Wikipedia that sounds promising:

http://en.wikipedia..../Dragon_Age_III

If they are going to be more "open world" and "new combat system" a la Skyrim, it could be a very good thing. The changes from DO:O to DA2 were pretty bad. A change in the direction of Skyrim could remedy that (I hope so).

Anyway, there's my $0.02.

Wow! Have I been living under a rock lately! I didn't know about the wiki article on DA3 and just read through it.
Um... yeah. Playable Dragons..<_<

This is one of the core reasons why we the dev team want to engage with the community and when we have something to show you, will do so. There's a lot of good & bad ideas out there (sometimes crazy... I'm not sure what we feed our designers), but until you see something from us, please take what you read within the web with a grain of salt (or lyrium).

Mind you, thinking about it, playing a dragon would be cool but the conversations... 

TwinkleToes (thief): Hey, Flamee! What do you think we should do?
Flamee (Dragon): KAAWWWW!
TwinkleToes:... but we always just eat them. Can't we sneak by them or something?
Flamee: KAAWWW!
TwinkleToes: Fine. But let me loot them first. I hate looting them after they've been though your digestive tract...
Flamee (annoyed): KAAAWWWWW!

[Dawnswalker]

First off, I know it's been a crazy month for Bioware in general, and I know that DA2 was a controversial title that got the team a lot of grief at times, so thank you for having this discussion with all of us in the first place. You guys are pretty brave!

I am disappointed that The Exalted March was cancelled, and that Hawke's tale will consequently have an abrupt ending, but now that I've had a chance to digest it, I do like the idea of the "One Story, One Protagonist" direction that DA seems to have headed in. Shepard was a good choice for the Mass Effect series, but a continual protagonist doesn't always work for every story, and at least this way there will be more freedom for you to do what you will in the future, and to tell different kinds of stories.

That said, I would rather see references to Hawke's fate (good or bad,) and the fates of all of Hawke's companions woven into future DA projects where possible, rather than simply put into "Expanded Universe" projects like novels, comics, movies, flash games, cereal, etc. I know that many people on the DA team put a lot into those projects, but not everyone follows them, and to many people it would come across as a tacit admission that DA2 was a complete waste of everyone's time, which I know is not your intent.

And here are some things that you should absolutely keep in mind for these mysterious "future projects."

Voiced Protagonists and the DA2-style Dialogue Wheel - Earlier in the thread, you indicated that going back to DA:O's old-school mute protagonist was not an attractive option, and after being spoiled by the Mass Effect series, I'd have to agree.. On that note, the DA2-style dialogue wheel was a great idea, and I was surprised that it wasn't "borrowed back" for use in ME3. Granted, it still wasn't perfect (some of Hawke's snarky dialogue was a bit meaner than I would have meant for it to come across,) but knowing the gist of what a line would be was better than going in completely blind, or having a voice actor read the exact same paragraph that I'd just read myself. Refining this system to tell the player a little bit more about the intent of the line, or to give options with differing "weights" would be a good next step in the process.

Varied Environments and DA:O-length Dungeons - Overly-recycled environments were not a good idea in DA2, and I was happy to see DA2's DLC address the problem and give us some cool setpieces to play in. I know that you definitely don't have the budget to make every dungeon into a several hour long epic crawl, but even a few small details can make a dungeon seem more exciting to explore. If I may bring up the competition in this thread, I thought that Skyrim was a great example of developers using small details such as trap placement, lore, sidequests, and puzzles in order to make dungeons that were otherwise small, cookie-cutter, and generic seem interesting.

Take Your Time - I understand that a 4-5 year long development cycle isn't practical for such a large franchise anymore, but DA2 (and DA:O's DLC) really did suffer because they had such a fast turnaround from DA:O's release. I think everyone who has posted in this thread so far wants to see whatever it is you're working on be the best game it could possibly be, given what you've got, so please don't over-reach on a project if there's simply not enough time or money.

I hope that at least some of these ideas are helpful, and thanks again for giving everyone a chance to give you feedback like this!

[Darji]

Realmzmaster wrote...

Meris wrote...

Realmzmaster wrote...

You are kidding about DAO's gameplay not being simplified? DAO is the game that started the simplifiction of the RPG elements in Bioware's games as compared to their ealier titles.

To be fair, the most complicated portions of older, dnd based, games was the issue of you not knowing how things work - which would normally happen because many things weren't well presented. The tooltips assumed you knew how DnD 2nd ed works and I've seen it's vets having trouble explain its more counter intuitive mechanics, like THAC0.

Never had any problems in that area. The manuals that came with BG1 and 2 even NWN were comprehensive. I did have an advantage in having played most if not all the major p n p systems out there. But DAO did borrow simplifications from the MMO's.

Yes it was simplified to a certain degree but RPG plaer could totally live with it. However they wont live again witha DA2 combat style. This does not work. It was even more simplified and made more actionary instead of atleast a bit tactical.

Again If you do the combat from orgins and make it a little bit faster. Something between DA2 and Orgins and also give us a tactical view. Most RPG players will be fine with that.

[Realmzmaster]

BomimoDK wrote...

Realmzmaster wrote...

Meris wrote...

Realmzmaster wrote...

You are kidding about DAO's gameplay not being simplified? DAO is the game that started the simplifiction of the RPG elements in Bioware's games as compared to their ealier titles.

To be fair, the most complicated portions of older, dnd based, games was the issue of you not knowing how things work - which would normally happen because many things weren't well presented. The tooltips assumed you knew how DnD 2nd ed works and I've seen it's vets having trouble explain its more counter intuitive mechanics, like THAC0.

Never had any problems in that area. The manuals that came with BG1 and 2 even NWN were comprehensive. I did have an advantage in having played most if not all the major p n p systems out there. But DAO did borrow simplifications from the MMO's.

having them only in PDF form does make it quite an endeavour to understand it. Mind you, i play BGT and have an old MAC manual for BG2 so i'm covered up to and including the 2.7 mill XP barrier. That leaves, on average, levels 22-27 to 40 uncovered.

BG2 Throne of Bhaal came with a manual that enlighten the gamer about levels above 20. The basic core remain the same. Many gamers think there was to much micromanagement in the system. I beg to differ, but that is my humble opinion.

[Astern hedgehog]

Maybe some DLC for dragon age origins (not DA2) will make us happy again.