1, Plot: DAII kind of left the series in an awkward position, we've got like 4 ot 5 plot threads that could be games all by themselves, thanks to DAII both refusing to expand on the myriad of potential plot threads left so generously by the first game, and refusing to commit to its own tangled mess of plots. There's the Qunari, the Mage VS Templar conflict, you know who's the baby, that weird door from Witch Hunt, and the list goes on. If I could persuade you, don't even try. Pick one plot to expand on first, then do the rest one by one with DLC, or just make DA IV, there's no cardinal rule that says it has to be a trilogy.
2, A silent protagonist: I know we all love Mass Effect, but Hawke got on my nerves, I preferred just making up a character from scratch. Not only does Hawke rarely say what I want him to, he's just not very interesting. This is the problem with having preset protagonists that we still control; more often than not, they end up in a weird middle space between fully realized characters and blank slates. I can neither empathize with them as human beings, because they don't have any personality of their own since they never take any action except what I tell them, nor can I project myself, because they still don't act exactly the way I would. Ideally I'd tell you to just let me play as the Warden again, but I know you're not going to do that... But I'm going to tell you why you should anyway. Because there is no way you guys will know what each individual Warden is like, so effectively, you can't even show him and Hawke, despite how important they are to the story. You know how everyone in Origins had to dance around calling you by name? Imagine that situation for two of the major characters of the series. If you don't show the Warden, I'll feel like he's been overlooked, if you kill him off screen, I'll feel like he's been trivialized. To you, he might be some blank slate, but you have to understand that to players he (And Hawke, for some people) was the catalyst that connected us to the other characters (And if he's lost, by the way, that would have to become everyone's top f*cking priority, cause I was tight with everybody). The monumental amount of narrative tension that such a huge character effectively being MIA creates has to be dissolved somehow, because it will create a gap between the will of the new protagonist and the will of the players. We want to see the Warden again, we want to see our love interest, our friends from the first game again, but that can't be the priority of some random guy/girl who's never met these people. Every scene of the game, I'm going to be wondering what's going on with the Warden with no way of expressing myself. In other words, I'm being constantly reminded that this new guy/girl IS. NOT. ME
So I propose the KOTOR II method. Make the new protagonist somehow linked to the Warden/Hawke (Preferably both), so that we have a reason to pursue them. Another option might be to just switch between all the different characters, which would be cool, but I know that’s a huge undertaking.
Either way, make sure the new guy/girl doesn’t talk.
3, Combat Ritalin: The combat from DAII needs to chill the f*ck out. Stop with the spontaneous exploding enemies, and bring back the death blows. See, the reason this bothers me is not that I don’t like the idea of the combat being more energetic, but when an enemy explodes because I stabbed him, it’s not exciting or cool, it just breaks my immersion. It makes me feel like what I did had nothing to do with it, he just… exploded for no reason. It’s not cool, it’s just silly.
I do like a lot of the new combat mechanics from DAII, (Except for not being able to dual wield as a warrior, WTF? That was my favorite way to play) such as the cross class combos, the auto positioning rogue, the increased mobility, the new mage animations, but it all looks like it was designed by a hyperactive 12 year old on crack.
Ideally, I would tell you to just go back to KOTOR and sync up the combat animations, but I know that’s not really feasible. So just slow it down and keep it grounded. You don’t have to change it back to Origins, even I agree that combat in Origins, whilst strategically entertaining, moves at a snail’s pace. Just dial it back a little bit, get rid of the explosions (Except for mages, where it makes sense) and bring back the death blows.
4, Bring Back Customization: Let me choose my race again, let me use whatever weapon I want again, let me customize my party again. Hell, take it a step further, make a weapon tree for using a one handed weapon and nothing else, I’d play it.
5, Don’t Leave Me Hanging: Don’t just off handedly refer to my friends from the first game dying of syphilis in a ditch somewhere and pretend you think I don’t care, I want to see them, ALL of them, again (That’s something you CAN learn from Mass Effect) preferably, I’d like characters from the first game to play a large role in the third one. (I know this doesn’t apply to everyone, but I couldn’t care less what happens to my party from DAII. The only interesting characters from that game, the antagonists, are out of the picture) That could be another reason to look for the Warden.
This last thing didn’t make the list because it’s not something that can be easily quantified, but what’s more important than all of this is for DAIII to possess the same humanity as Origins did. Humanity isn’t something that can be crossed off a check list or something that can be asked for, it has to arise naturally from the game. More than anything else, I want a cast of characters I can invest in again.
P.S: Don’t recycle environments, but that should be obvious.
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