So Dragon Age 3.... No Pressure?

[Don Savik]

Dragon Age was.....alright I guess. The combat was terrible (isometric rpgs like Baldur's Gate haven't aged well in my opinion, and DA didn't do anything new, in fact it did less than Baldur's Gate) and the lore was uninspired. Its watered down Lord of the Rings, with sex thrown in so it can claim to be "mature".

They said Dragon Age 3 was going to be open world, probably to ride on Skyrim's success, and that alone is going to kill it. Bioware has one strength, and thats a focused story.

EA said Dead Space 3 needed to sell FIVE MILLION COPIES. I highly doubt that Dragon Age 3 is destined for anything but financial failure. Keep in mind the game is being made by the "press button = awesome thing" crew and Hamburger Helper.

The cards are not in its favor.

 

[Knight Templar]

"You guys know there's only one RPG that won't let you do that and it's called Dragon Age 2."

Do you honestly think that is true?

Keep in mind the game is being made by the "press button = awesome thing" crew and Hamburger Helper.

So was the first game.

 

[Redneck Gamer]

Everyone is going to say either the game is utter and complete crap, or that it is the hallowed savior of an IP whose 2nd game was either complete crap, mediocre, or quite good depending on who is asked. In the end, DA3 is going to fail because everyone is going to expect it to be a truly great game with amazing story, deep combat, and an incredible expansion on the DA world when in reality their expectations are nothing that Bioware can live up to for realistic, financial, and economic reasons. EA is going to force them to rush it out of the gates unfinished, then blame them when it bombs, cut staff, cut funding and kill a formerly creative company and put the rest of the staff to work on whatever football, hockey or soccer game it has coming out next or whatever generic FPS call of duty rip off it is creating.

 

[votemarvel]

I don't expect any Bioware game to be perfect but I do expect them to do their best.

Now I didn't like most of the changes made to Mass Effect 2, yet I found that it was a game they'd obviously put a lot of care and attention into.

A friend and I were discussing this very thing in the pub one night and oddly we came to the decision that DAII and ME3 felt like Obsidian made sequels. Not bad games in their own right but not a patch on what came before.

When I play Dragon Age II and Mass Effect 3 I very much get a sense that the most often spoken phrase during development was "that'll do."

 

[votemarvel]

Quite a bit of booze was flowing that night Anthraxus.

However I must disagree with you about the quality of the Obsidian made sequels you name, I found both to be inferior to their predecessors.

As for Mask of the Betrayer expansion, I might have agreed if the problems with the main game had been fixed when it came out.

One thing I do always give Obsidian credit for is that they usually add a good story, that was about the only saving grace of Alpha Protocol after all.

It's a shame though that the rest of the games they make don't live up to that standard. As a side note I do think Alpha Protocol had a better story and narrative flow than Mass Effect 3 managed.

 

[Alex Mac]

For what Dragon Age 2 lacked in mechanical polish, I always felt it made up for in narrative nuance and more compelling characters. But that's just me. Apparently, it was a piece of shit. Or so I am told.

Honestly, for DA3, I don't think they need to struggle too much. The setting is rich, the writers are (at a minimum) moderately competent and comfortable with it. If they increase the scale to make up for DA2 rather tight focus and find a happy medium between the visceral feel of DA2's combat and the much more in depth, traditional combat mechanics of DA:O, I think the game would do reasonably well.

 

[Use_Imagination_here]

The Dragon Age franchise will be like the Fable games. Start with a really well made, memorable game and get increasingly worse as you make more games.

There have been 2 games. How can you possibly know that?

 

[Greg Waller]

BioWare and EA can fuck off.

BOYCOTT EA.

 

[Smeggs]

For those of us who don't much care for Dragon Age, there is no pressure on the game. Mass Effect was my only real Bioware series, everything else was backseat, and they screwed the pooch.

The Dragon Age franchise will be like the Fable games. Start with a really well made, memorable game and get increasingly worse as you make more games.

There have been 2 games. How can you possibly know that?

And Fable has had three, he's just making a prediction based off of the 2/3rds he's been given already.

 

[Vegosiux]

No pressure from my side. Not buying DA3, so they don't have to worry about me. Guess the closest I'll come to it is over-the-shoulder-watching some friend who does, maybe.

 

[boag]

holy shit I received a low content post for that?

holy shit are these mods kidding me?

man what the hell?

 

[Adam Jensen_v1legacy]

I am already determined not to buy any EA/Bioware game after they lied everyone about ME3. But I wouldn't buy DA3 even if ME3 was the most awesome game in the world. Dragon Age: Origins was perfect. It ended in the best way I could imagine, and there was no need for DA2. DA2 was a quick cash grab on the success of DA:O, and it was terrible. The thing I hated about it the most was the voiced protagonist. And Bioware is determined to have a voiced protagonist in DA3. That alone is enough for me to avoid DA3. Dragon Age is not the kind of game that benefits from having a voiced protagonist.

 

[Terratina.]

Yeah, no pressure Bioware.

Dragon Age 3 is either going to resuscitate the series or kill it. The previous game, Dragon Age 2, wasn't bad but wasn't good either. Sure, some of the characters were well written and the graphic style was better, when compared to Dragon Age: Origins' high polished wood figures but the original game was the best. I didn't like Dragon Age 2 because the ending didn't change, barring a few minor details, whether you picked the Mages' side or the Templars' side. But enough of that. There are some really interesting unresolved plot threads, such as what happened with the God-Child and the Architect, that really have potential.

Nevertheless, Bioware have apparently gone for an open world game and are deciding to not play to their strengths. It'll be interesting though, so get the popcorn out when it goes down.

 

[mad825]

KotOR 2 was better than KotOR (even with the ending that the shit publishers rushed them on)

New Vegas crushed Fallout3 (especially if your a typical Bio fan that loves the 'story' elements)

Eh, that's a very slippery slope.

KotOR had a story to tell that was complete while KotOR 2 was treading in the same waters with little reason while also being cut and slashed to death by the hidden incomplete content. In my opinion, KotOR 2 had the weaker story/plot overall as playing from KotOR 2 to KotOR was overwhelming.

FO3 and FONV is like comparing Marmite to chocolate spread. Different tastes and appeals, they are both still good but people tend to argue which are better. Honestly, the main quests for FONV still lacks a good story but DLC for FONV are best stories in my opinion among FONV itself and FO3.

 

[Elamdri]

The Dragon Age franchise will be like the Fable games. Start with a really well made, memorable game and get increasingly worse as you make more games.

Fable was well made and memorable?

 

[Mikeyfell]

"You guys know there's only one RPG that won't let you do that and it's called Dragon Age 2."

Do you honestly think that is true?

For western RPG's.

I certainly can't think of one besides DA2 that won't let you tweak your posy's equipment
Why did I miss a really obvious one?

 

[Arkynomicon]

Dragon Age 2 wasn't as disastrous as just plain mediocre with a very stupid ending if you help the mages.

But it is mostly just so bad compared to the first game.