42 réponses à ce sujet

[Gwydden]

Here's an idea I've been considering for a very long time.

 

We know very little about DA4, even though it is likely in pre-production by now, other than Mike Laidlaw saying he would like it to be 'somewhere north'. My personal bet and preference would be the area of Tevinter, Rivain, Antiva, and the northern islands. The move from southern Thedas and its more Western European feel to a more Mediterranean atmosphere would be, in my oh-so-humble-opinion, an interesting and exciting way of keeping the franchise fresh. Nevarra and the Anderfels just wouldn't feel all that different from Ferelden, the Free Marches, and Orlais. Also, let's be honest, there is some selfishness involved as I've wanted to see Antiva and Par Vollen ever since DAO.

 

Now let's think about what all of those places in bold have in common. I said they had a 'Mediterranean' feel to them, so that's kind of it: they all have extensive coastlines. Which provides a great opportunity for the next game e.g. making it naval based. What would this mean? Well, our base would be a ship, for starters. Not a camp like in DAO, a estate like in DA2, or a fortress like in DAI. A bona fide ship. It would be customizable, of course, both aesthetically and functionally. It would be a shiny new mechanic perfect to set the game apart and make it stand out.

 

There are more effects than the obvious here. This feature would mean the game would take place mainly in coastal areas, especially urban coastal areas. Something that I felt was missing in DAI was its lack of urban spaces, which is ironic considering how cities are usually where the action is due to, you know, all the people. We'd get to see Minrathous, Lomerryn, Antiva, and the northern islands. Instead of the big-ass rural areas that filled DAI and bored us to death we'd get bustling metropolises, ideally in smaller, more focused areas. The crafting system could be replaced with trading mechanics, exchanging goods from place to place to make money, establishing trade routes and supply lines, earning money and using it to purchase the bare necessities as well as upgrades... You get the idea.

 

The question in everyone's mind, of course, is 'what about naval combat?'. There would have to be some kind of naval combat, sure. And many of the people reading this are probably thinking I'm thinking about AC4. Truth be told, this idea have been kicking around in my head for a very long time, and I haven't even played that game. I've heard it's pretty good, however, and I kind of liked naval battles in AC3, so it might serve as inspiration. However, it's not the only way. DA4 could go about the mechanic pretty much however it wanted to. Previous Bioware games have actually explored this to an extent. In Jade Empire you have to beat a mini-game to fly from place to place, and in ME2 this type of combat is scripted but determined by how well you have upgraded your ship. Alternatively, they could make it mostly like regular combat, having you control your party while boarding other people's ships. It can be as simple or as complicated as they want to make it.

 

Given the geographic area we're dealing with here, a major plot will likely be the Qunari-Tevinter conflict. Whoever wins gets to invade the rest of Thedas. Having a ship for this kind of game would make perfect sense, lore-wise. The Qunari were last defeated at the Battle of the Nocen Sea, the biggest naval battle in the history of Thedas. Rivain and Tevinter are the roaming grounds of the Felicisima Armada, a merry* band of pirates we've heard about before through our Rivaini acquaintance from DA2. The Qunari navy happens to be the best in the world, and it's even outfitted with cannons.

 

Now, for the disclaimers. I know DA4 is a long way off and it hasn't even been announced yet, but that's just the thing. They must be in pre-production by now, or will soon be, so this is the best time to suggest features of this caliber. And I think we'll get confirmation they're working on it not too long from now, as it was the case with DAI and MEA. Also, I don't think my saying it here will make make much of a difference, but it was too cool an idea not to make it very visible in the Feedback & Suggestions subforum. Gotta try at least, hmm?

 

At the very least, I think discussion about the idea would be welcome.

 

*For those not very familiar with Spanish, their name can be roughly translated as the 'Merriest Navy'. A pirate moniker if I ever saw one.

[andy6915]

Oh, good. I thought this was a "I'm pirating Bioware games from now on" topic and I was about to warn you that you were risking a ban for it.

[Jedi Master of Orion]

The Battle of the Nocean Sea was a draw. 

 

But I actually totally agree with your idea about making the next game as a piratey setting. It would both be interesting and new, and also give us the chance to explore all the northern nations and places as a relative outsider each time we explore them. 

 

Being a notorious pirate could also provide a good mechanic for how a player character could reasonable by an any race or a even a mage and still be important and have it make sense. 

[AresKeith]

Why didn't you include this into your OP?

 

[Gwydden]

Oh, good. I thought this was a "I'm pirating Bioware games from now on" topic and I was about to warn you that you were risking a ban for it.

It's always a pleasure to witness the extent to which cynicism has taken over this place 

 

The Battle of the Nocean Sea was a draw. 

 

But I actually totally agree with your idea about making the next game as a piratey setting. It would both be interesting and new, and also give us the chance to explore all the northern nations and places as a relative outsider each time we explore them. 

 

Being a notorious pirate could also provide a good mechanic for how a player character could reasonable by an any race or a even a mage and still be important and have it make sense. 

Well, I sometimes use the words 'winning' and 'losing' differently. I consider the human alliance won that war because they got the Qunari to agree to a peace. I'm thinking that draw made the Qunari to rethink their invasion strategy. Either way, the battle was very relevant to that conflict.

 

And while I don't believe we have to be pirates, I agree that's a good way to go and how they'd probably do it. As you said, it allows for neutrality and flexibility, and we can always pick a side if we want to go all privateer.

 

Why didn't you include this into your OP?

Clearly mistakes were made! 

[andy6915]

It's always a pleasure to witness the extent to which cynicism has taken over this place 

 

Well I do agree, a raider (pirate) themed game would be interesting. It was certainly fun when Assassin's Creed went in that direction.

[Jedi Master of Orion]

I think the timeline places the Battle of the Nocen Sea right before the start of the Exalted Marches, so right at the end of the first human counterattack that freed Antiva and most of the mainland Imperium. My impression was that it was the event that signaled to the Black and White Divines that they could only break the stalemate by calling for a holy war.

[Gwydden]

I think the timeline places the Battle of the Nocen Sea right before the start of the Exalted Marches, so right at the end of the first human counterattack that freed Antiva and most of the mainland Imperium. My impression was that it was the event that signaled to the Black and White Divines that they could only break the stalemate by calling for a holy war.

You're right. Several interesting tidbits from the wiki, though:

 

The Battle of the Nocen Sea was the largest naval engagement in history and resulted in a stalemate and the destruction of many ships on both sides. With both sides exhausted, an impasse began.

The nations of Thedas found themselves in dire need of every ship they could muster against the massive power of the Qunari dreadnaughts. The Llomerryn pirates were faced with a hard decision: band together under one flag and fight with those they had previously preyed upon or face conversion and annihilation by the Qunari. Thus the Felicisima Armada was formed at 7:55 Storm.

The Felicisima Armada meanwhile had been using their stealth and trickery to plague Qunari supply lines. They have even launched several seaborne invasions against the Qunari coast. At 7:78 Storm the raiders managed to defeat the Qunari in a massive naval battle and then take Estwatch from them, an island with strategic importance.

 

Naval battles were certainly a big deal, though I may have gotten a few of them mixed up. My point is that in a game featuring a Qunari invasion, naval warfare would make perfect sense as a mechanic. I'd also like to note that the First Qunari War took place in just the geographic area I described.

[JezrelM]

AC black flag is the best pirates game out there

[Paul E Dangerously]

Well I do agree, a raider (pirate) themed game would be interesting. It was certainly fun when Assassin's Creed went in that direction.

 

Damnit. I guess I'll shelve my "Dragon's Creed 4: Black Flag" joke.

[draken-heart]

Honestly, would be cool. ESPECIALLY if we can be a Qunari/Vashoth/Tal-Vashoth pirate.

[Reznore57]

I want to be a pirate!

And I want a boat!

 

Seriously I was thinking about this for a time , with Inquisition I'm a bit fed up with being part of something noble and important.

Pirate?You mostly do what you feel like , there may be some kind of code but whatever...

With the war brewing between Qunari and Thedas , Pirates may be useful.

You could move  refugees to a safe place (or sell them to slavery if you're  playing EVilz Captain Hook.)

Smuggle weapons , lyrium to armies , etc...

 

You could play any race , pirates are like mercenaries , they don't care .

It would be the perfect balance between DA2/DAI .

You could still be a leader , being Captain , but no more messiah saving the world stuff.

You'd have to get involved in a war with qunari because those fellah are good at sea and would probably used it for their war effort.And you'd have a boat and a crew to take care off .

[Darkly Tranquil]

While I'd definitely be down for some pirate action set around Antiva and Rivain and involving the Qunari, I still think it's going to be centred around Tevinter.

[N7_5P3CTR3]

Sign me up!

 

We could also have a stronghold tucked away on an island to play in, too.

And hats, it's very sunny there.

 

I love that the pirate theme let's us keep multi-race PC.

[c0bra951]

AC black flag is the best pirates game out there

 

Yes.  Love it.  I would welcome more piratey stuff, if it's well integrated into the DA universe.  Forget scripting.  Let us sail and battle ship-to-ship.  It would be interesting to work magic and large creatures into the mix.

[daveliam]

I could support this. I'd love to have Rivaini Seer and a Kont-arr Qunari as companions.

I just think they should add in the rest of the Marches instead of Tevinter. I think that needs its own game with Seheron.

[Steelcan]

I'm not on board with this. DA is campy enough as it is.

[Cespar]

I've been waiting to be a pirate since meeting Isabella in Origins.

[wright1978]

The Battle of the Nocean Sea was a draw. 
 
But I actually totally agree with your idea about making the next game as a piratey setting. It would both be interesting and new, and also give us the chance to explore all the northern nations and places as a relative outsider each time we explore them. 
 
Being a notorious pirate could also provide a good mechanic for how a player character could reasonable by an any race or a even a mage and still be important and have it make sense.

I definitely like the sounds of it for a future game. I was very much in love with the notion of Hawke going off sailing with issy.

[Gwydden]

While I'd definitely be down for some pirate action set around Antiva and Rivain and involving the Qunari, I still think it's going to be centred around Tevinter.

I could support this. I'd love to have Rivaini Seer and a Kont-arr Qunari as companions.

I just think they should add in the rest of the Marches instead of Tevinter. I think that needs its own game with Seheron.

That would be fine, but I think it would be a missed opportunity.

 

What I'm visualizing is the situation arising around another Qunari war. Tevinter and the Qunari are going head to head, and the former is by all appearances going to lose. The battle would center around the Nocean Sea: if the Qunari can dominate it and use it to establish a foothold in the mainland, Tevinter's done for. Not just because of the war; there would also be internal unrest due to reformists the likes of Dorian* and Calpernia and slave uprisings. Southern Thedas wouldn't be keen to provide assistance after the Corypheus and Venatori fiasco, even less so if the Inquisition allied with the Qunari. They would rather shore up their defences and prepare for when their turn arrives.

 

Meanwhile, Rivain has unrest of its own. There's a deep tension between those converted to the Qun and the more traditional pagan population. If the Qunari invade, it won't take long for the country to fall. Antiva still remembers how it was occupied during the First Qunari War and fears suffering the same fate again. Without much of a military there's not a lot of resistance to put up, so the Crows focus on weakening the Qunari while picking sides on Tevinter internal conflicts to make sure it doesn't fall apart.

 

The Qunari have the most powerful navy in the world. All of these countries turn to the Felicisima Armada and others of their ilk to fend them off and keep them from using the ocean to their advantage. If left unchecked, the Qunari navy would make short work of these countries coastlines, where their urban centers are located. The rest wouldn't last much longer. If they can be contained at sea, they can be kept from unleashing their full might on the mainland.

 

This is all based on the history of the first invasion, where the same nations and factions were involved. I don't think the net would be too wide here, because we would focus specifically on coastal and major urban areas, which is where the action is anyway. Being able to visit only a few places in each country would actually make sense in a game like this because we would never stray too far from somewhere we can land on. We could get an epic tale spanning several countries, a personal, political, and war story that would give us the best from the previous games. No more Chosen One, ancient evil, save the world nonsense.

 

*Keeping with Bioware's tradition of carrying a companion over from the previous game, I think Dorian would be the most likely candidate for this hypothetical scenario.

 

I'm not on board with this. DA is campy enough as it is.

Pun not intended?

 

Notice all I mentioned in the OP boils down to having a ship as a base of operations. There's nothing at all campy about being captain of a ship or admiral of a navy. While we're at it, there's nothing inherently campy about piracy, even if it's often depicted that way. All I'm calling for is for a game focused on sea travel and warfare, which in spite of being a huge part of history are often neglected.

[thats1evildude]

The boats would have to get a lot damn bigger for there to be any naval action.

[Gwydden]

The boats would have to get a lot damn bigger for there to be any naval action.

None of the countries we've visited so far are naval powers. We haven't seen many warships either.

[rapscallioness]

*shivers in anticipation*

 

I'm so glad you brought this up. At times I confess I feel reticent about admitting I want to be a pirate. Like I'm 8 years old or something. But guddammit, yes! I want to be a pirate.

 

What was it called? The Raiders one. The ..Felicisama Armada..hmm. You all know I'm talking about. And I'd be totally fine with Not having naval battles ala AC4. I'm okay with that. Maybe the occasional scripted event?

 

But the whole vibe. I wantz it. And we can go to any port, Tevinter included. The ship would be our home base.

 

And I love the idea you had about swapping the crafting mechanic with a trading mechanic! Oh, yes. Buy on the cheap here. Sell on the high there.

 

There's so much coast up that way, too.

 

Please, BW. And you don't have to do the naval battles. It's okay. Really. It can be scripted. We can cutscene onto another ship IF we even need to. It's a convenient fast travel option. Our helms person could be a witty non companion npc/advisor type.

 

And the FB3 engine does water so well!

 

And an npc that we could dump our loot out on. And a cook. We need a cook. An Orana, Bodhan, Sandal type of mix on board.

 

And a galley where everyone would gather.

 

The ensuing hijinx would be glorious.

 

edit: Savvy, BW?

[JadeDragon]

Finally I thought I was crazy for wanting to be a raider in DA4 based around the Qunari Wars. With that side this is a long post for those in advance. To me its just the thing the series needs to give it some extra life. It could be the perfect mix of all 3 titles. My ideal DA4 pirate based game would work like this, similar to DA:O we have origins that eventually tie in to us joining the Raiders. I like how our heroes our part of organizations in Thedas besides Hawke(will detail later), it makes you feel like more then just a random adventure and you get to learn info on that organization its people and how people outside of it view you. And the only organization I can see accepting anyone regradless of class race or gender is The Raiders. And like the Wardens The Armada are morally grey which is a bonus because we can have dark choices return in fact even dark choices because The Raiders are more Chaotic Neutral/Good(when need be) and wardens are more True Good or Lawfully neutral. Lets face it The Inquisition while a great organization is only Lawfully Good no matter how you play even being harsh in judgments there was no real grey choices everything was pretty much good. So the Raiders will allow players to openly role play less restricted and be more of a anti-hero. Like DA2 being a Raider allows us the best of both worlds not only being apart of The Armada but unless there is a huge threat we pretty much govern ourselves so we wont fill the weight of filling tied to our organization we can have the freedom hawke had to do whatever(the game allows). Which brings me to like DA:I we are the captain of our ship so we will basically be the leader in a sense so certain aspects of Inquisition can remain such as war table and a main base just in a modified way.

 

Now the details on how I would prefer things to play out is, we would obviously be called Captain easy tag name for NPCs to call us and like mentioned above it can take place in Antiva, Rivanni and Teiventer. It could give us that sense of exploration back in Dragon Age and I dont mean just open spaces, I mean port cities filled with different people merchants and yes I would prefer a return to the old currency system of copper, silver, and gold it would make trading and finding treasure more important. Treasure hunts should be included as well, in DA:I so many chest were not useful at all lets make them important again we already seen the Raider symbol marked in caves and dwarven ruins lets continue that so we know were we already been. Basic Caves will have decent treasure but the jackpot lies in going into dwarven and elf ruins and of course the deep roads. Easy way to keep darkspawn in the game but not centered around them. Make the deep roads a risk/reward deal the further down you go the more good and epic loot you find but of course the more darkspawn you have to deal with and harder they become.

 

The mobile skyhold idea is perfect for this game. In all honesty Skyhold was not very useful in this game outside of crafting it was a nice concept but lets add the finishing touches with our custom ship and actually making additions count. If we build a mage quarters when in a navel battle we have mage support or a archery quarters archers instead. Let us prep like Mass Effect two suicide mission style. If we are doing battle with Qunari Dreadnoughts we cant go with a basic ship and having all the upgrades will result in less deaths again the point is to make everything count. War Table missions can consist of Raider operations varying from Raiding a village to Smuggling Goods to Smuggling Slaves to freedom to assisting a fellow Raider in a naval battle against Qunari or Government.

 

Which leads to my next idea which is bounty. Entirely new to the series depending on our deeds we can either gain favor or bounty. If we Raid a town in Antiva our bounty there will go up but not in Rivanni. Towns and people will fear us and npcs will run away when we go to a town if our bounty is really high which may lock trade with that city and make guards attack us but the benefit is it can allow us to access black market merchants. Gaining Favor makes the towns people see us as a hero if high enough getting discounts from merchants and maybe tips to secrets around the area.

 

Besides those new features I mainly want the series to fill like an adventure thru the Dragon Age of Thedas, seeing the different people and cultures and how they live day to day and interact in situations other then world is in danger time to save it. Sometimes we should be the ones to create the danger. But on to my ideal plot. Not a basic hero story from DA:I the epic save the world stuff can come at the very end. But from the start we can be part of a raider crew (after origin story of course) while we adventure in a dwarven ruin leading to the captain's death(mentor death trope) and 1st boss battle against a awakened golem guarding whatever we came to get to fit the mold of large enemy first boss battle(Orge and Pride demon) but changing it up by addings a golem. Act 1 we become the new captain and have to form a new crew with our standard first companion we find some interesting companions as crew members such as a Moralitasi(necromancer on a pirate ship), exiled chevalier, female saarebas we save, Ash Warrior, etc. Different people different cultures one ship. And they would have there own areas on the ship like skyhold only when we enter the "war room" they come along to make the companions feel more like a legit crew and not so distant. After that we make our mark as legit Raiders on the raise. Act 2 more people take notice of whatever we did act 1 maybe throw in some betrayal from a crew member who becomes the personal antagonist for us, having altercations with the merchant princes and crows, as well as gain favor of Magisters and getting involved in there plots which slowly leading to the final epic Act. We are famous Raiders now but The Qunari are launching a full invasion, That is when the Armada forms together as a whole again and the big save the day moment arrives, only after the personal vendetta and exploring is done, with good story pacing this would be a good mix of all the games so far. We should see the world we once knew change during the wartime. less Merchants that sell more weapons and armors now, cities taken over by the Qun would have brainwashed NPCs and Qunari guards everywhere watching over its taken over town. Eventually driving them off and becoming heroes equal to the former 3 with our past bounties clear.

 

That was alot I know I had this idea for a while and have expressed it before but if anything I just want to be a pirate in Dragon Age. And a serious pirate game not just all rum and song in taverns and brothels which should be included but real piracy and real war. Channel DA:O for the serious moments so we can have big payoffs at the end. Inquisition is at its core religious focus wither its Andraste, Avvar, Elf, or Dwarf alot of lore was pantheon based. Let us actually get back to the Dragon Age and get to the culture characters and adventure. Only as a pirate hero or antihero.

[rapscallioness]

The truth is, during our Raider/treasure hunting expeditions, we could easily stumble across some artifacts or lore stuffs that would help expand and enlighten the lore of DA.

 

Then...maybe some nefarious groups find out we have discovered these things, and..they come after us, too. We may have to decide what to do with it. Do we expose  it? Do we keep it secret? Do we just sell it to the highest bidder?

 

The game could start one way, but become much more serious later.