- Meaningful Choice and Consequence -
If you're going to present me with a decision make that meaningful. More than anything this has been the problem with DA2 and ME3. We were given the illusion of choice without real consquence. In DA2 you could decided b/w templars and mages. Your choice didn't matter you always ended up fighting the same people whether it was in the side quests or far worse in the main quest at the end of the game. ME3 had a similar problem. You were presented with R/G/B but there was not real change in the presentation of the those choices which is why many claimed ME3 had 1 ending (EC did a better job differentiating this though). Also don't give me an option to kill Leliana/Zevran/Wynne/Anders/etc only to have them show up again. Enforcing your own cannon/preferences over the player's decisions is bad writing and is inexcusable.
-Tactical Combat over Button = Awesome! -
Over the top combat in DA2 was one of the most repulsive things about it. A shield bash shouldn't send 3 guys flying nor should a sword make a person explode when they die. DAO's combat was awesome because it was gritty. I was always thrilled to get a finishing move because it was 1000x more visceral than anything DA2 had.
The removal of tactics also bought the game down, remember DA is the heir to Baldur's Gate not Dynasty Warriors. Bring back the tactical view option and tactics of Origins. Also Cross class Combo's was a neat idea but failed. It doesnt make sense for a Warrior to give up his positioning/turn his back to the guys he's fighting to hit the enemy so the Rogue/Mage can deal some real damage and vica versa.
Potential Idea: Introduce a combo system of Combat Advantage so a class can combo off itself in addtion to other classes.
Ex: Single class Combo: Warrior shield bashes stunning an enemy. He gets advantage against that enemy an uses his Overwhelming Assault and each hit does a good amount of extra damage.
Ex: Any class Combo: Mage freezes a foe. Warrior can shield bash to deal crap load of extra dmg (shatter combo in DAO), Mage can cast lightning spell for extra damage, Rogue can also use a power to deal extra dmg.
-Companions -
Overall the companions were a let down from Origins. Varric and Aveline were about the only ones I liked. Several really got on my nerves (Fenris/Anders with the none stop hate of Mages/Templars), and felt more like lens to view the plot and establish sides than characters. No one in DA2 could hold a candle to Morrigan, Alister, Leliana, or Shale. And for god sakes bring back the camp or something similar with some appropriately awesome music. Have it feel like your all in this together.
-Art -
DA2's changes were jarring. The Qunari were an impressive change, but the Elves and Darkspawn made me feel less like I was in a fantasy world and more like I was in a cartoony game. The art changes in those 2 cases broke immersion. Thats fine if you guys are proud of the work of your artists with the changes of DA2, but does that mean you aren't proud of the work they did in Origins? If you aren't you should be. Darkspawn were slimy, fierce, and intimidating. You could see the taint just by looking at them. In DA2 they felt like a skeletor joke, not a plague that could destroy they world. They weren't intimidating at all. Elves weren't as bad, but they were maybe too fairy like. I was always distracted by their weird lines than being absorbed in what they were saying, not the desired effect I'm sure.
Don't be afraid to go back to how you started this. DA2's changes could simply be attributed to Varric taking some liberties. I understand you wanted to create a distincting look for the brand with DA2. I'd argue you did that in DAO and the look was positive and supportive for the setting's tone unlike the changes made in the sequel.
- Don't Rely on Auto-Dialogue/Make Dialogue Wheel More Clear -
I'm the player, you want the player character to say something I get to choose what to say. Simple as that. The more you take me out of the game, the less I'm invested into your game.
The dialogue wheel is also annoying because one instance of "wait I wasn't trying to say that!" is one to many. There should be a way if you're highlighting a choice, you should be able to have the first couple lines come up. B/W tone icons and that no one should be complaining.
-Make Me Love My Player Character-
At the end of DA2 I really didn't care much about Hawke. I'd have easily sacrificed the entirety of DA2 for a 3-4 hr DLC adventure in DAO with my Warden. Why? Because I loved my Warden, Hawke felt like your character not mine. So for DA3 make me love my protaganist. How do you do that? Well I have given you some ideas like stop the Auto-Dialogue and allowing me to make meaningful choices with consequences. The basic idea is the more decisions you make for me or make meaningless, the more that the becomes PC your character and not mine then the less we care about the character.
-Establish the Villain Early-
Saverok, Irenicus, Malak, Saren, and Loghain were all good Villians. We knew of them early and grew to hate them as adversaries while respecting their power and charisma then through out the game we'd learn a little more about them and their motivations. The old saying is the hero is only as good as the villian.
In DA2 we never meet Meredith and Orsino until the end of Act 2. Most of the game is behind us. When we finally get to know them we find out they were annoying bats**t crazy people that I wanted to kill more for their incompetence as leaders/compromisers than anything. Plus Orsino's "BTW I help turn your mom into a zombie" bit the end....yeah not writing's finest moment. One of the reasons Starchild was also despised was because his revealations on the Reapers' motivations turned a great villain into a facepalm. Make and establish a great villian and your helping your cause immensely.
-No Auto-Dialogue/Omniscient FedEx Quests-
I'd rather have 1-2 good quests with dialogue than 12 of these. Enough said.
-More Locales/Less Reused Maps-
This has been beaten to death so I'm not sure much more needs to be said.
-Day One DLC-
If youre going to be doing this...and I know you are, use Warden's Keep as a template not Sebastian/Javik. A party member is obviously pre-written into the script which is why so many compain about it being cut content. A seperate adventure that gives me quests, exploration, gear, new dialogue/choices I can experience all at once is a better way to go. While I'm sure this will probably be cut content anway I'm more likely to look favorably on it if I get to experience it all at once rather than every time Sebastain/Javik says something "oh yeah my 10/15 bucks is finally saying something." I might not like the character for my party make up so I might miss out on what I'm paying extra for, which is more likely to make people rate it lower. Take me on a fun adventure, not have me think "well I guess I can use Sebastain now and go do his quests then never use him again."
-Above All Don't Rush-
I'm sure EA calls the shots here, so I can't say this is helpful to the developers. But to Greg and Ray I say this is about the value of the BioWare brand. You built it, fight for it. Two year lapses between releases aren't allowing you to achieve the greatness of past titles. If you want that name to continue to carry weight then you want your fans to set the internet abuzz in favor of your product, not how rushed it felt, how inadequate the ending felt, or how its an inferior product to its predecessors. Also note I said fans earlier I did not say game review sites. Sure you want good reviews from those sites, but you know you'll get them anyway because getting a 9/10 on a AAA title isn't the heruclean task it used to be so their opinion doesn't matter. Next time I go into a gamestop or get on a forum I'd love to be able to recommend a BioWare title to someone, not advise them to look elsewhere. I'm sure I'm not the only one.
TL;DR What specific features does DA3 need to get you to buy it?
Modifié par ArenCordial, 23 août 2012 - 12:18 .
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since we play a character that seems to be in their mid-20s having an older in-game romance would be cool, it also means one of the romances won't seem like statutory rape.
