My view on gaming - is that adapting to a gameplay style itself is part of the fun.
I actually don't care what gameplay style they adopt - DA2's gameplay style wasn't the most fun I've ever had - but it wasn't what made me hate the game.
So it's really a non-factor for me.
Story and increased player agency are what's important to me - and DA:I really does seem like it has the second one (of course it has the first one) in a much larger amount. So I am pleased and excited.
I'm reserving my judgements for after I've had at least a couple of hours with the game.
Didn't view it as insanity, a vast horde with one driving intellect could have made vast stockpiles of wargear between blights, made sense, if you plan for one war every few centuries having enough equipment to fight it isn't that big a stretch. As for blunt force trauma vs armour, it works against some types not against others, theirs a reason knight vs knight on foot has alot of emphasis on locks and throws, get them down then bypass the armour ( one of the few things war of the roses did well) oh as an aside twitch based mechanics in an rpg annoy me, should be character skill and player tactics.
To be honest I'm pretty optimistic regarding the changes in DAI, as I think a lot of changes that have been implemented are for the better.
Like:
-The 'middle road' approach they took for companion armor, being able to equip and vary their appearance while they still retain their own unique flair. How it turns out and just how deep remains to be seen, but from what I've seen I'm pretty cool with it.
-I actually don't mind the gated romances, as it gives each companion a natural feel as to their preferences. I never liked the 'one size fits all' approach (a.k.a playersexuality) to begin with.
-Dagger variations (slicing and stabbing). Although I do wonder what comes if you equip one of each, unless of course daggers come in pairs and not individual equips. Either way, at least now that allows me to feel okay with having two DW rogue PCs since I can develop their 'style' differently.
-Rogues seem to get more abilities that allow them to behave like rogues and not just lightly armored warriors. Caltrops, traps, I like it.
-Weapon/armor gated classes. I don't mind it at all, as it makes each class unique. Its Dragon Age, not Skyrim.
-Crafting. I never crafted in previous DA series, save for maybe equipping weapon and armor runes. Why craft what I can buy? This game though I'm VERY inclined to craft weapons and armor, maybe even potions.
-Playable races. Nice not to have to play as a human again, though I'm sure a good chunk of my PCs will be anyway
-Character creator. Say what you will about lack of hairstyles, I think they outdid themselves with the makeup and what finally appears to be a good eye color (using a wheel was the best idea because now you can actually SEE the color, unlike so many other games).
-Combat looks amazing. That's all I need to say about that. I like action based gameplay and would rather not spend forever having to micromanage every single move, but its also nice that each battle requires SOME thought.
-Dwarf female beards. Seems they took the Tolkien/WoW route with that one. But I like it because it gives them a distinctive 'hallmark' unique to them (as elves of either gender do not grow facial hair, qunari have horns, etc...)
-Qunari horns. Something may be said about the hair, but the horn styles are pretty neat looking.
Interested, but neither positive or negative about:
-No healing. A part of me is like "!!!" given that I ALWAYS kept a designated healer in my party whenever I could. However, the healing mists and focus on tactics such as guard/barrier actually intrigue me, so I'm not writing off the idea just yet. I want to see how it actually works before I judge harshly/leniently.
Concern:
-While I know there are 'general' elements of the game that go regardless of your gender/race/class, I do hope there is a healthy amount of reactivity and not just slight dialogue changes here and there. Doesn't have to be all the time with every dialogue, but it'd be nice to see your Inquisitor isn't always a special snowflake and just as prone to the ups and downs of race relations in Thedas (which aren't fantastically/politically correct).
-Dancing with Empress Celene. I do hope you're not forced into that (like you were forced to 'date' Morinth in ME2). If its optional, cool.
Dislike:
-Overlapping trenchcoat armor (though I think that's just what we've seen so far). I really do hope there are some plate for warriors, robes for mages, etc...
-No armor dyes. Kind of disappointed that never panned out.
-6:3 male-female companion ratio. Yeah, it bugs me. Those who want to run an all-male party have plenty of variability while those who wish for an all-female party have but one setup. Varric could have made an excellent additional advisor, with his slot going to another female character.
-No non-human females for male romance (seriously?! Origins didn't have it, DA2 had it but you're relegated to human). I don't mind Sera being f/f only, given its her character, but another available option wouldn't have hurt.
-Skewed romance options in general. I would have included another bi female (elf/qunari/dwarf) for an additional non-human m/f and f/f option while either making Solas or Blackwall available to both genders for an additional m/m. Would have been nice for three options per orientation as opposed to two for some and four/five for others.
-Qunari female hairstyle limitations. Wouldn't hurt for at least one long hair option.
Despite my 'dislikes' (actually, nitpicks. Some which I'll get over (hairstyles, armor dyes) and most likely forget about. Others which I hope writers/devs take into consideration for future games (LIs/party members).) I'm extremely excited for DAI. November 18 can't come soon enough, believe me. 
I'm slightly sad that they seem to be moving away from the more conceptually interesting narrative they attempted in DA2 towards a more Origins-style 'big threatening force threatens to destroy us'. DA2's was poorly executed, but it had a root thematic vision I can admire and would have liked it built upon. However, I don't fully know how the narrative will play out, so I will wait to judge this fully. BioWare's marketing has never accurately characterised the narratives of their works, in my experience.
Hear, hear. I seem to be one of the few who actually loved Dragon Age 2. It literally felt like the alpha release of one of the best RPGs of all time. The flaws were all problems that resulted from rushed development, the main ones being:
- Horrifically bland item descriptions (especially with the jewellery)
- Embarrassing reused environments
- Enemies appearing out of nowhere, then vanishing when they die.
- Big, empty and sterile environments
But it reached heights in terms of storytelling that have yet to be equalled. Chief among which:
- A restrained, emotionally affecting story that deviated wildly from the traditional "save the world from unnamed evil" template. I LOVED that the first half of the game was you just trying to get a job and provide for your family. I also loved that the main conflict was a real ideological debate with the qunari.
-Speaking of which, the Arishok was an incredibly interesting, dignified antagonist who completely breaks the mold for typical antagonists. He was a pleasure to interact with and I found myself really pleased when I impressed him early on, and genuinely saddened when circumstances meant I had to fight him.
-Wonderful characters including Varric and Aveline, the latter of which was an especially brave and inspired design choice. A homely looking female captain who's quiet, principled and introspective as well as being tough-as-nails? That's so rare, and it was so welcome.
-Developing a real personality with your character's dialogue choices that persisted even outside of conversation trees. I loved that if you consistently skewed witty in your responses, your battle cries would also take on shades of jokiness. I loved that in your arguments with your sibling, they called you out for always being a goody-two-shoes if you consistently chose Paragon. It felt wonderfully integrated.
- Genuinely interesting combat that stretched you along all the right axes: you needed to be smart in your character ability builds, your loadout, and your in combat tactics to succeed in nightmare. You couldn't just rely on setting up the AI, either. It worked well.
So as far as DAI goes, I'm excited to see what they can do to build on DA2, rather than avoid it. So far it looks fantastic. The only thing I'm annoyed by is the simplification of the magic schools. There's far, FAR too much of the "Fire/Ice/Lightning" trifecta in magic now, and having come off Skyrim I'm very tired of it. I would have much preferred DA2's schools, or something new and different.
Besides that, the game looks gorgeous, the story sounds cool, the content looks abundant, and the combat looks fun. Get Hype!
I think Bioware is haunted by the ghost of Dragon Age: Origins and they're doing everything in their power to make us forget about that game...
..as the great Jalen Rose frequently says...
NOT GON' BE ABLE TO DO IT
Maybe they'll build a new core of fans who like action-RPGs that are built around a controller. But Dragon Age was built on the backs of those of us who like tactical RPGs that are built around a keyboard/mouse.
I feel like I'm in a bad marriage...and Dragon Age is no longer the woman I fell in love with all those years ago. I'm not big on divorce, so I'll try to work-it-out -- get some counseling, give it some time. But life is too short to be unhappy -- and there are other games out there that won't take me for granted.
Dont really agree with you - but had to give you kudos for a great analogy!!!!
Hear, hear. I seem to be one of the few who actually loved Dragon Age 2. It literally felt like the alpha release of one of the best RPGs of all time. The flaws were all problems that resulted from rushed development, the main ones being:
LOL. Yeah I really enjoy DA2 as well. It feels like a taboo thing to say on these forums. Though I will say I didn't THINK I would have liked as much as I do now. I was flabbergasted when they announced that Hawke was going to be human only and voiced. But now I love my Hawke and I love all the companions and their stories.
I am very grateful that DAI now offers diverse races though and am super excited about the open world and mounts. We did lose a few things like healing ?! That makes me scratch my head a little, but what we are gaining is something we have wanted ion Bioware games for a long, long time.
So to me all these little negatives don't do anything to quell my hype, the game just looks too gorgeous and full of the things I do enjoy that everything else are things I can deal with. We'll see for sure when we get to play though.
I wish that I had seen this post earlier. I just wanted to say that I agree. DA2 made it clear that Bioware was trying its damnedest to distance itself from DA:O as much as possible, as if they were ashamed of it. And DA:I appears to be more DA2 than DA:O, so it doesn't look like things are getting any better. Let's go back in time to see the reaction to DA:O.I think Bioware is haunted by the ghost of Dragon Age: Origins and they're doing everything in their power to make us forget about that game...
..as the great Jalen Rose frequently says...
NOT GON' BE ABLE TO DO IT
Maybe they'll build a new core of fans who like action-RPGs that are built around a controller. But Dragon Age was built on the backs of those of us who like tactical RPGs that are built around a keyboard/mouse.
I feel like I'm in a bad marriage...and Dragon Age is no longer the woman I fell in love with all those years ago. I'm not big on divorce, so I'll try to work-it-out -- get some counseling, give it some time. But life is too short to be unhappy -- and there are other games out there that won't take me for granted.
I don't like the switch from game world consistent magical healing to non game world consistent chemical healing that is clearly just magical healing that your mages should be able to do and some random plant clearly can't because of the large amount of fade displacement and fade control that would be required to heal the types of wounds you'd expect someone to have after getting the flesh seared off their chest or a blade swung at their arm.
I do like the move away from DA:O's auto attack centric gameplay, but I don't like the healing mechanics (or lack thereof) that make no sense. This mostly worked much better in DA:2, however bosses should still be ccable, there is no reason whatsoever why bosses shouldn't be ccable.
And I'm sorry but a heal that you can only use after building up focus isn't a healing spell, that's a special attack. They are totally seperate. Especially when you watch the gameplay and notice how incredibly slowly focus seems to build up.
So if I had to put my finger on the one thing I cannot get over, it is the change to healing that completely contradicts the lore and expectations about how these things would have to work within the reality of the gameworld. It was enough of a dislike that I went from planning to prepurchase to waiting. Maybe a modder will come along and fix things, so it won't matter at all. But this is something I cannot get over and will not budge on.
And if Bioware wanted to get rid of spam healing, there were better ways of doing this that didn't contradict the lore and shift to magical chemical healing that makes no sense at all. For instance explain magical healing as something that takes a lot of time and concentration from the mage, so your characters can only be healed outside of battle and can't receive any healing at all during battle. See that makes perfect sense within the confines of the game world and I wouldn't have a problem with that. That also means that clever players could try to heal their character mid-combat by using their tankdudes to keep heat off the while while the mage tries to heal the severely wounded character as best they can given the circumstances, properly just something barely better than emergency care.
I wish that I had seen this post earlier. I just wanted to say that I agree. DA2 made it clear that Bioware was trying its damnedest to distance itself from DA:O as much as possible, as if they were ashamed of it. And DA:I appears to be more DA2 than DA:O, so it doesn't look like things are getting any better. Let's go back in time to see the reaction to DA:O.
Me: Dragon Age [Origins] is a 9/10! Amazing game! Almost perfect, in fact. I love it!
Bioware: I hate this game! It sucks! Let's try to sweep DA:O under the rug. We'll make a new game, change everything, and slap the Dragon Age name on it!
The reaction to Dragon Age II . . .
Me: This... doesn't feel like a sequel at all. What is this? Everything I knew and loved about the original... gone? But they still kept the damn giant spiders?! And still no long hair! And it's so linear, what the hell?
Bioware: This is genius! Our best work yet! THIS is what will set the standard for the Dragon Age franchise from now on!
I think that perspective is a little exaggerated but hilarious all the same.
Then lore is a wasted effort in every single RPG that isn't an action-RPG with hyperealistic combat, i.e., with 1-hit kills and based entirely on dodging.
There plenty of ways around it.
For instance you say that each person is clothed in magic that radiates off of them in waves which reduces the force of any projectile or melee attack entering their vicinity.
Or make armor and shields work properly by deflecting blows instead of just creating damage mitigation. Yes this means mages will have have to stop wearing paper into battle, but let's face it that was hyper unrealistic, nobody would go into a fight without some form of armor, and robes that would catch at your legs and trip you up are the last thing you'd want to bring no matter what the situation is. There was actually a funny companion conversation about this in DA:A, pointing out how this didn't make any sense at all.
Things I like:
Things I don't like:
Things that don't bother me:
Hear, hear. I seem to be one of the few who actually loved Dragon Age 2. It literally felt like the alpha release of one of the best RPGs of all time. The flaws were all problems that resulted from rushed development, the main ones being:
- Horrifically bland item descriptions (especially with the jewellery)
- Embarrassing reused environments
- Enemies appearing out of nowhere, then vanishing when they die.
- Big, empty and sterile environments
But it reached heights in terms of storytelling that have yet to be equalled. Chief among which:
- A restrained, emotionally affecting story that deviated wildly from the traditional "save the world from unnamed evil" template. I LOVED that the first half of the game was you just trying to get a job and provide for your family. I also loved that the main conflict was a real ideological debate with the qunari.
-Speaking of which, the Arishok was an incredibly interesting, dignified antagonist who completely breaks the mold for typical antagonists. He was a pleasure to interact with and I found myself really pleased when I impressed him early on, and genuinely saddened when circumstances meant I had to fight him.
-Wonderful characters including Varric and Aveline, the latter of which was an especially brave and inspired design choice. A homely looking female captain who's quiet, principled and introspective as well as being tough-as-nails? That's so rare, and it was so welcome.
-Developing a real personality with your character's dialogue choices that persisted even outside of conversation trees. I loved that if you consistently skewed witty in your responses, your battle cries would also take on shades of jokiness. I loved that in your arguments with your sibling, they called you out for always being a goody-two-shoes if you consistently chose Paragon. It felt wonderfully integrated.
- Genuinely interesting combat that stretched you along all the right axes: you needed to be smart in your character ability builds, your loadout, and your in combat tactics to succeed in nightmare. You couldn't just rely on setting up the AI, either. It worked well.
So as far as DAI goes, I'm excited to see what they can do to build on DA2, rather than avoid it. So far it looks fantastic. The only thing I'm annoyed by is the simplification of the magic schools. There's far, FAR too much of the "Fire/Ice/Lightning" trifecta in magic now, and having come off Skyrim I'm very tired of it. I would have much preferred DA2's schools, or something new and different.
Besides that, the game looks gorgeous, the story sounds cool, the content looks abundant, and the combat looks fun. Get Hype!
I mostly agree about DA2. For all that I hate the Qun, the Arishok was a unique antagonist who made some really good points. The overall story was refreshingly different and the roleplaying was mostly good. Only I hated the combat with a passion.
As for DAI's story. I don't think the more traditional scope is due to the reception of DA2. Many people disliked its story, but the features you mentioned were a much bigger issue. Also, DA2's ending set things up for something big, and there was enough foreshadowing even in Act I that I actually expect to be somewhat disappointed it's not going to be quite as big as I expected.
I think this a totally unreasonable question to pose prior to release. It's like looking at an ultrasound and saying gee that's an ugly baby.
My only useful comment is to say, produce a toolset (three months after release) to improve the replayability (it did wonders for Skyrim pc sales).
Darkspawn are animals. There's some minor evidence they are sapient but none that they're sentient until DA:A and that's because of the Architect. Their footsoldier armour is more elaborate than Lothian's armour. A hurlock alpha has armour more ornate than the King of Ferelden. From cave dwelling monsters that lack thought. It's beyond dumb.
The born-darkspawn don't make their armor and weapons from scratch, they scavenge it all and their sapient ghouls do some shoddy craftmanship to bring it up to functional levels for their more valuable soldiers (as mentioned in this codex entry). You can probably credit all the really decent armor, such as on the alphas, to ghouls. Darkspawn are completely parasitic by nature, without other species, they can't create anything, they can't even reproduce.
I have a good feeling overall. It looks like it will be better than DA2, which was the only real criteria I had for purchasing this game... that doesn't mean that something I don't know about or haven't yet taken issue with can't ruin the game for me a few hours in, but I doubt that will be the case.
Hear, hear. I seem to be one of the few who actually loved Dragon Age 2. It literally felt like the alpha release of one of the best RPGs of all time. The flaws were all problems that resulted from rushed development, the main ones being:
Agreed. DA2 managed to suck me in, far more than DAO ever did, despite its problems. I've found it much easier to go back and replay than DAO.
here's another:
So the shields and armours just....decide to grow back together again afterwards?
Agreed. DA2 managed to suck me in, far more than DAO ever did, despite its problems. I've found it much easier to go back and replay than DAO.
So the shields and armours just....decide to grow back together again afterwards?
I take it you look for realism in your games... nothing wrong with that, but it is a fantasy game.
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