So Dragon Age 3.... No Pressure?

[Bertylicious]

I don't see how it is going to be any good but I will buy it anyway because I am a mug with more money than sense and I am "emotionally invested".

*Baaaah*

 

[Ziggy]

I'll probably enjoy it, since BioWare games are still entertain me greatly. But I think Dragon Age 3 will be one of the most interesting games to watch around its release. The company has never had to come back from such a negative response. It'll be popcorn time whenever it comes out, no matter whether you love them or hate them.

I completely agree. Things are going to get crazy around here when the marketing campaign starts up.

I really can't put a finger on exactly how they screwed up the combat, though..I don't know what, but something just feels..FPS-y?

My guess is that it was because your auto-attacks was so fast but did almost no damage, and you had to wait because of the long cooldown on your 6-7 abilities

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

anc[is] and then a whole other plot starts in act 3 ending in boss fights that would embarrass the power rangers.

lol that is pretty damn hard to do.

OT: I'm sure EA is going to drown it down even more to hook in every person under the sun, and it'll crash and fail and will hardly relate at all to the original dragon age, nor will they have any relation to a mod kit towards it like DA origins did, which made the replay value (for me at least) much higher with all the sidequest mods and item/gameplay changes.

DA2 could've had a family plot just fine, but that doesn't mean it has to be the ONLY plot, they completely screwed what was going on in the world and then the plot circumvention in act 3 was just ridiculous.

I mean I can be pretty forgiving, but damn..that game took every fucking shortcut imaginable, plus more.

 

[Avalanche91]

I didnt hate DA2, but found it underwhelming. I really loved some of the characters. I loved the fact that they had their own plots going on, some interwining with the main story, some amusing side missions. That and the banter between them is incredibly amusing (save for Anders cause dear god what did they do to him)

I am carefully optimistic. I hope that EA learned to give Bioware the time to polish their product after the ME3 debacle and that the next game will have the sense of scale of Origins and the combat of DA2.

 

[Zeckt]

Why do people say the combat in DA2 was its strong point? 3 enemies spawning on top of your mage out of thin air make me want to vomit and not only quit bioware but gaming in general. I don't care what DA3 will be, its already ruined with bioware's new fail idea of attempting to mass appeal.

Seriously, WHAT is good about DA2's combat? it did not feel like an rpg, it felt like streets of kirkwall with enemies cartwheeling on the screen with cheap spawns and crap.

 

[electric method]

Thanks to both who quoted me. In response, I am aware of the multiplicity of Arch-demons, the potential of the warden/morrigan child etc. The bigger issue is just what I stated. Look at it from an SG1 type of thing. The first few seasons of this series the Jaffa were hard to kill the Go'auld almost impossible to do so. The winds of change blow in around season 4 and by 6 the heroes are offing the snake heads and Jaffa in job lots. What was originally the big bad(s) for the series got watered down so much they became a joke.

The same holds true for the DA series. The more Arch-demons they trot out the more watered down they become, eventually losing all menance and threat they could have. It's the same type of problem the ME series faced. BW has wrote themselves into a corner with the established story of DA:O and Awakenings. DA2 is a throw-away title, and if they go back to arch-demoney goodness for DA3 then they'll have effectively repeated the cycle of the ME series.

Yes, the lore does allow for more places to go in the DA universe but, because of how it's been handled BW has nowhere to go with it. Unless, of course, we want a contrived, silly story and plot that vaguely fits into the plot(s) already established. Now, where have we seen this before with BioWare?

 

[Zetatrain]

Well quite frankly if EA actually gives Bioware the time needed to complete the game it might actually turn out alright. DA2 only had about 15 months of development and part of the reason why ME3 got its ending was because around the time ME3's release date was pushed back Bioware said they needed until June to complete the game and EA gave them till February. For me its about 50/50, its possible they can pull this off though at the same time it won't surprise me if they don't.

Where did you hear that they were requesting a June deadline? That would actually make a lot of sense.

It was one of the many many ME3 treads that popped up on the escapist in March and April. Supposedly, the info came from Bioware employees. Unfortunately my memory is a bit hazy on the details, so take what I say with a gain of salt.

However, last month there was another thread about how some ME3 players unearthed a bunch of unused files in the game such as voice clips for the non-squad characters like Jack, Miranda, Jacob, etc. Some of it hinted that the characters from ME2(those still alive) would actually play a large part in the final mission and that it would be sort of be like the suicide mission from ME2. Unfortunately due to time constraints it got scraped. Now granted its not uncommon to find unused files in games, ME2 had some, but based on what read in that thread it seems that the developers originally had much more planned for the final mission in ME3.

 

[kingthrall]

EA jaws have sealed the lid on Bioware. No more are the classic 6 party adventure games they used to make. No this dragon age 3 is going to be so much like mass effect with dumb party dialog options and hold your hand action guides with Diablo 3 styled skill tree that I will be waiting for bargain basement prices.

Until such time as they go back to the D&D style of fighting like baldurs gate or icewind dale. This game is a bound failure with epic shiny colors and bloom to lure in the dimwitted fans.

 

[DRes82]

I think that if SW:TOR enters 2013 with less than 500k subs, BioWare will be shut down and this won't see the light of day.

Hmm, if that's the benchmark then I guess we should be worried for Bioware. Pretty sure they dropped below 500k subs a while back.

As for DA3- DA:O was a masterpiece. DA2 was a huge meeehhh. They can only go up from there, but they'll be competing against Skyrim. Bethesda is doing the MMO thing now too, though. So, they could just wait around until that horrible idea drives Bethesda into the ground and if Bioware can manage to stay alive long enough with the tumorous growth that is SW:TOR attached to them., they will have no competition!

 

[Windcaler]

I think biowares best course of action would be to take a close look at Elder scrolls. In all of the ES games they take place in a different place in the world so they can have their own self contained stories. The blight in ferelden was a good plot for starting it. Then we got to see Kirkwall as stress between the mages and chantry boiled over (I believe this "civil war" was the real plot of DA2). With DA3 well they could do a plot surrounding Orlais as they hinted at, or they could go to Antiva, or they could go to a completely different area.

Personally I think DA3 is going to be judged unfairly because of DA2 and the ME3 endings. It may end up being a bad game but I dont think it will deserve all the bile its going to get. That said, Bioware just needs to take the constructive critisism and get back to what makes their games fun to play. Lots of choices that matter, well written characters, interesting locations (not recycled), fun combat (if they have to make more active combat then it needs to be like Jade empire not DA2), and a deep story.

 

[Ginger768]

I thought ME3 was the best of the ME series, and that Dragon age 2 while much worse than DA:O storywise had improved combat.

I don't think Bioware has that many fans who are actually gonna stay mad, i think some people just can't let the ME universe go or want a "Disney ending" and are finding things to complain about to vent that.

 

[Ishigami]

Despite all it flaws I still think DA2 was a decent game. Not great, breath-taking, ground-breaking or anything of that sort. It was however mediocre or ?okay? so to speak.
The only thing that made it a disappointment was that it was the successor of a much better game.
If it weren?t for the company that made that game or the predecessor people wouldn't complain that much about this game.

Anyway I hope that they learned their lesson from DA2 and ME3. I will not condemn DA3 without giving it a chance.

Until such time as they go back to the D&D style of fighting like baldurs gate or icewind dale.

And I hope they never will.

 

[RJ 17]

I've seen this brought up a few times around here before but never a discussion dedicated to it. So Dragon Age 3... I can't think of any other modern game that has had so much working against it (save Duke Nukem maybe). Not only do they need to salvage the unmitigated disaster that was Dragon Age 2, but they also need to deal with the fallout of ME3's ending fiasco. On top of that they need to attract new fans while doing their damnedest to reel in many of their old fans who've lost hope in the franchise (in some cases the developer themselves). That's a lot of pressure, and I can only imagine that EA is cracking down in an effort to salvage this IP. I don't work for Bioware, so I can't possibly know what's going on over there... but its not hard to imagine the stress everyone must be under over there.

So what do you guys think? Are the devs just rolling in cash without a care in the world or are they pulling out their hair over this game? I can only hope that, assuming blood and sweat goes into this game, we get something worthwhile out of it.

Fappy! Haven't seen you around in a while! Then again I haven't been around in a while myself, so it could just be me.

ANYWAYS!

As for DA 3 definitely is under a lot of pressure, but I for one believe it's mostly off of the perceived failure of DA 2 (I say "perceived" because I, for one, greatly enjoyed the game after looking past the mechanical issues such as copy-pasted dungeons, but a good story will normally win me over every time) than the ending for ME 3. For starters I'm pretty certain different teams did DA and ME, 2ndly I'm amongst those that thought that Bioware managed to redeme itself a bit with the Extended Cut. For me, it gave me everything I asked for...literally. I actually predicted all the Extended Cut endings in ME 3 topic 6 days after the game came out and long before the Extended Cut was even being considered.

But all the failings of DA 2 was like a kick to the balls to the series. People didn't like how the story didn't tie in at all with the first game (which is no true, it does, but I'll say the fact that someone has to explain it doesn't really help the game's cause), for that matter most people just didn't like the story, period. They saw it as a bunch of random faffing about as some random douche in a random city. I saw it for what it is: a sequel story in a trilogy doing what sequels are supposed to...advance the plot and make way for the 3rd.

I think it's quite clear that DA 3 will take place during the Mage Civil War which officially starts at the end of DA 2. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the Dark Spawn play a big role in DA 3 as well, as if you manage to get your sibling to join up with the Wardens in DA 2, you learn that the reason they're not helping out against the Qunari invasion is because they're on "urgent business". So something's clearly going on with them.

Granted, I'm a bit of an optimist, but I've got faith that they'll manage to tie the story together in DA 3 and give us something enjoyable. If anything, I think they should post user comments on the original ME 3 endings onto some sort of collage and put it on the wall in the studio. Every day someone has to go up there and read 5 entires. The moral being "We do NOT want this to happen again! Get it right the first fucking time!"

Captcha "Think Green". Great, the Captcha's been reading hippie propaganda again...

 

[Sarpedon]

I don't understand what was so bad about Dragon Age 2. I mean, I understand it was, at best, only tentatively connected to the first game, but still, I rather liked the game itself.

 

[communist dwarf]

I just hope that Bioware will make something worth while and new. I loved DA:O. Combat sucked but at least the story line kept it interesting. DA 2 sucked in every way. Combat was droll and the story line was as flimsy as a wet sheet of paper. If there is any hope for the DA series(IMO) is to go back to the early days and let us do something that is along the lines of playing as a race and experiencing some war only to have it end with how the darkspawn really came to be. Whether its divine retribution or some evil curse from a dying race. I don't care but the series is dry unless they do something new.

 

[Scorpid]

Well, we have to remember that the endings of ME3 were not under peer-review, so I don't think Bioware is just rolling around in cash and ignoring the internet squabble. I never got into Dragon Age (always felt like a generic fantasy to me :/), but from what I heard in DA2, the game went from a story involving nations to just a family getting by. So, it essentially took a step backwards. Might be a good idea to get me up to speed on what happened. But, yeah, after ME3, I've lost a lot of respect toward Bioware as writers, after the ME3 endings, so I assume it had something to do with that?

Narrowing a stories focus is not a step backwards. I enjoyed Dragon Age2 alot more then the first, where it fell down was the "steam lining" that EA seems to worship as a phrase. ME3's ending was just crazy stupid but the rest of the game was gold.

I don't think Bioware is under as much pressure that the guy suggests. Mass Effect 3 and DA 2 made turned a profit and were lauded respectively by critics. I do think they'll listen to fans and deliver something that'll win them the respect they lost with fans, if they don't i'll blame EA of course though

 

[Gitty101]

So long as it isn't rushed and has more in common with the first game, I reckon there's still hope for the Dragon Age franchise. But I'm wondering what/who the focus will be on this time, if they're going to continue where the second left off...

 

[idarkphoenixi]

No doubt what's causing the most amount of pressure for EA is their stock prices. It's been plummeting down since DA:2 and hasn't risen since.

Either way, hilarity is bound to ensue and I'm sure as hell going to be on the benches with a nice cold beer ready to enjoy the show.