[Zeliard]

Exactly. People have become ridiculous and histrionic about Bioware lately. They still haven't released an actual BAD game in a very, very long time.

DA2 is pretty bad. It's one of the very few RPGs I just outright stopped playing because I just hated the experience that much. It was so unbelievably exhausting to play. Just an endless trudge in an insipid, never-changing setting - a nightmare in videogame form. I still have a save lingering somewhere in Act 2, and I'm not interested in ever going back to it.

And it has nothing to do with Bioware hate - I quite enjoyed ME3 for the most part, especially the combat.

On the bright side, this does mean that DA3 will have a hard time disappointing me.

[hateradio]

I hope Bioware figures out what made DA1 special and what made DA2 a mess.

From the little we've been shown currently, and from the information we witnessed before and after DA2's release, I can't say that I see anything that shows BW's interest in reviving the DAO spirit. Currently, it looks like they really love DA2, and all they want to do is salvage it any way possible.

[Vigilant Walrus]

Dragon Age 2 was better than the first one in several aspects. For one the characters were much better. The main character was better - Hawke > Warden.

The game was uneven. The first part of the game had a better story with the Qunari, and was more much more interesting than DA1 in it's entirety. Act 2 fell short.

The art was uneven. On one hand it looked really cool in several places - The design of Kirkwall was great, weapons and certain races were great. On the other side you got shit-mountain, lack of colors, and the darkspawn which had a terrible design. They truly became much worse in the second game (were already pretty shitty substitute for evil orcs).

Music was uneven. Some of it was unforgetable but some of it was also better than anything in DA1 with it's post-LOTR soundtrack.




DA2 needed more time. 1 year more. It needed to have run on a bigger engine. All the small areas did not serve the city well.

The combat and AI needed a lot more work. Nothing wrong with the combat they went for, but it was not tactical enough at all.





I played DA2 for the story and I found it a lot more interesting and personal.

The Dwarf - the beardless Dwarf... he is basically the best dwarf that I have ever seen in a video game. Varic is such a great stereotype breaker. No stupid scotish accent and santa beard. He works great.

The Elf - Merril is a potential love interest, and one I pursued after the other hot pirate lady didnt want a long term relationship. I almost shit my pants in disbelief and anger, and went with her. She was really cool. she was quirky, made many mistakes. a truly flawed character. A stereotype breaker for the always oh-so-perfect elf race. very refreshing.

Hawke's family - There is a personal touch to all the things that went around him. it was great. his uncle, his dog, his family heritage, his mother, his sister and the mages... I never played the game as a female.













I don't want them to do a Prince of Persia 2008 - That game was a reboot with a lot of great ideas. But somehow Ubisoft managed to take the best bits (the artistic masterpiece art, open world, the emotional turmoil of a big world le SoTC, music, fantastically story, well written plot) and swap it all out. PoP 2008 had one gigantic problem - horrendous combat. one that needed fixing, but most other parts were great. Ubi decided for another reboot and it was so much worse, even with better combat. it lost all its edge and personality.

[ctrayne]

.

[Nirolak]

They put up the second part of the panel, the Q&A session.

Part 2 (Q&A, second video): http://blog.bioware.com/2012/04/10/b...e-at-pax-east/

[BeesEight]

It's both a mediocre game and a bad game, with a few redeeming qualities.

I would argue the majority of BioWare's games are mediocre.

[HK-47]

Hawke being better than the Warden isnt hard, since the Warden is a blank avatar. And I preferred that over the character I played in 2.

[Lancehead]

Hawke being better than the Warden isnt hard, since the Warden is a blank avatar. And I preferred that over the character I played in 2.

I prefer my player character to be as scarcely defined as possible. Roleplaying characters that I defined is almost always better than roleplaying characters (partially) made by the developers.

[Complistic]

Dragon Age 2 was better than the first one in several aspects. For one the characters were much better. The main character was better - Hawke > Warden.

Nope nope nope. Hawke was unbearable. Sten, Leliana, Morrigan, Shale, and I even liked Alistair more than any of the characters in DA2. And it's not just a matter of opinion, they were fleshed out better, more interesting, and although they weren't that unique to a fantasy setting (besides shale lolz) they all had things that were unique about them.

The DA2 companions were all incredibly one dimensional.

[EDarkness]

Hawke being better than the Warden isnt hard, since the Warden is a blank avatar. And I preferred that over the character I played in 2.

The Warden had Hawke beat easily. My Warden was just a straight up badass, but more importantly he was defined by me. Of course, it didn't hurt that he looked like Billy Dee Williams. Heh, heh. They simply left The Warden's story hangin' and I think they really need to go back and finish that off. Either way, Hawke was dry as far as I'm concerned. Maybe they wanted a guy like Shepard, but Hawke just didn't cut it. My hope is that they give us The Warden back.

[Riggs]

First BW game I am not pre ordering. Will wait on this and see if it turns out to be garbage or most excellent.

[HP_Wuvcraft]

What exactly from the Warden's story do they need to finish?

He killed the Archdemon.

That was his story.

[Rabbit Lord]

Hawke being better than the Warden isnt hard, since the Warden is a blank avatar. And I preferred that over the character I played in 2.

Agreed.

The DA2 companions were all incredibly one dimensional.

For the most part I agree, I did enjoy Varric.

[HK-47]

I prefer my player character to be as scarcely defined as possible. Roleplaying characters that I defined is almost always better than roleplaying characters (partially) made by the developers.

So you dont like the nameless one or the exile? Defining parts of a character has its perks.

[Moaradin]

I hated Dragon Age 2, but Varric was great. Best dwarf character I've seen in a while.

[Enduin]

Honestly I'm fine with DA3 being more like DA2 than DAO. For me most everything that was wrong with DA2 was the fact that it was so undercooked. The whole game felt like a first draft from the plot and characters to the gameplay and environments. I still enjoyed the game a good deal despite all this, but was constantly reminded at every turn how much potential was wasted.

So if they at least take their time to fully vet everything and actually develop the gameplay and story beyond being simply passable I think they could make a really good game.

[Piecake]

One of my problems with bioware games now is all we get to choose now is tone in dialogue. Why the hell cant we pick motivation like in BG2 (i am remembering that right, right?)? I think that would give the player a far more satisfying experience if he was able to determine why he is doing the things he is doing, even if those choices to impact the world at all, than just determining whether the main character is a dbag or a good guy while doing what he is doing.

Hell, you can still have tone choices - i mean, you cant have all the dialogue options reflect motivation, but if your motivation is revenge, it would make no sense to pick a goody goody tone option. Having that motivation though, i think would give greater weight to the tone dialogue as well. Only being able to pick tone just seems very lacking and superficial to me

[Lancehead]

So you dont like the nameless one or the exile? Defining parts of a character has its perks.

Oh no, that wasn't what I meant. Although, in Torment, you're exploring the Nameless One's character, his many lives, more than roleplaying him.

Roleplaying Shepard, for example, is not as enjoyable as, say, the Courier in New Vegas. Of course, Shepard's is a case of poor writing as much as design.

[JWong]

I hope they keep the combat from DA2 since DAO combat is garbage boring combat from century years old mechanics.

[Piecake]

I hope they keep the combat from DA2 since DAO combat is garbage boring combat from century years old mechanics.

looking at the combat videos in Dragon's Dogma, I hope they change the combat to that. The combat in that game looks freakin sweet

[hateradio]

I hope they keep the combat from DA2 since DAO combat is garbage boring combat from century years old mechanics.

Why I aught-a!

[TucoBenedictoPacifico]

I really dont care about it not being worse than DA2. I just want it to be as good as DA1. Is such a thing even possible.jpg

I'm reading many statements like this.
Can I be the only one who wouldn't be fine at all with a new Dragon Age on par with the first one?

Ok, the first game was a step in the right direction to bring back a genre, and the second one was embarrassingly bad.
But even taking Origins as meter, there's a LOT that needs improvements to be even remotely on par with, let's say, Baldur's Gate 2.

Their class system was a joke, with characters becoming more and more generic as they leveled up; their ruleset sucked; the bestiary was poor: lack of resistances, special powers and immunities made every fight the same thing and the dungeon design was almost non-existent ("here some corridors where you fight stuff").

No, they don't need just to repeat DAO, they need to take DAO as a solid starting point and then improve over it.
Then again, they are probably going to release a game which is worse of DA2, so I shouldn't really care.

[Lancehead]

I'm reading many statements like this. Can I be the only one who wouldn't be fine at all with a new Dragon Age on par with the first one? Ok, the first game was a step in the right direction to bring back a genre, and the second one was embarrassingly bad. But even taking Origins as meter, there's a LOT that needs improvements to be even remotely on par with, let's say, Baldur's Gate 2. Their class system was a joke, with characters becoming more and more generic as they leveled up; their ruleset sucked; the bestiary was poor: lack of resistances, special powers and immunities made every fight the same thing and the dungeon design was almost non-existent ("here some corridors where you fight stuff"). No, they don't need just to repeat DAO, they need to take DAO as a solid starting point and then improve over it. Then again, they are probably going to release a game which is worse of DA2, so I shouldn't really care.

DAO a step in the right direction? yeah, that sounds about right.

Only the mage class offered decent variety, and only mages were any fun to play as. And there wasn't a single character I'd consider memorable.

[99%]

DA2 is the worst videogame purchase I made this generation, maybe ever. I genuinely felt cheated out of money. I've never seen such a blatant cash in with reused assets. Maybe as a 10 euro DLC pack it would have made sense.

[Sojgat]

After DA2 and ME3 why does anyone even care about this?

[Moaradin]

After DA2 and ME3 why does anyone even care about this?

Because ME3 is a great game and I haven't given up on DA yet. I will definitely be more cautious this time around and won't buy it until the verdict is in, but I'm definitely not gonna flat out say I'm not interested to see what happens.

[subversus]

After DA2 and ME3 why does anyone even care about this?

I do not. Graphics, cinematics and combat are improved, everything else took a dive. I'm not interested anymore. I'm curious but not interested.

[hateradio]

They put up the second part of the panel, the Q&A session. Part 2 (Q&A, second video): http://blog.bioware.com/2012/04/10/b...e-at-pax-east/

I finished watching the Q&A, and it seems like some things are positive. I won't hold my breath though.

[TigerUppercut]

After DA2 and ME3 why does anyone even care about this?

Morbid curiosity.

[AppleMIX]

After DA2 and ME3 why does anyone even care about this?

One mediocre game and a great game ruins any chance of a game to be good?

Anyways, I'm waiting for more information. The big problem with DA2 is that they rushed it out to market. It seems like they're taking there time with the third.

I am... not sure if you are trying to say that you agree with me or that you think I'm wrong about something. No, it isn't. Not a single ME is a "great game", they are at best some mildly enjoyable interactive TV shows, but not great games. Anyway, let's not go there right now...

There is a big difference between a bad game and a game you don't like.

[TucoBenedictoPacifico]

DAO a step in the right direction? yeah, that sounds about right. Only the mage class offered decent variety, and only mages were any fun to play as. And there wasn't a single character I'd consider memorable.

I am... not sure if you are trying to say that you agree with me or that you think I'm wrong about something.

Because ME3 is a great game

No, it isn't. Not a single ME is a "great game", they are at best some mildly enjoyable interactive TV shows, but not great games.
Anyway, let's not go there right now...

[Lancehead]

I am... not sure if you are trying to say that you agree with me or that you think I'm wrong about something.

That wasn't sarcasm, I was agreeing with you on the whole. I just added that mage class was good.

[Truant]

As much as I hate DA2, it did have a lot of good concepts. The main reason I dislike it is because the game is basically unfinished.

- I liked that all the followers have their signature look. Good, it worked for Morrigan in DA:O and it works here. Problem is, follower customization is almost gone. What they showed in the panel was a good middle ground.

- The idea of having an unreliable narrator, and the "tale within a tale" thing was excellent. However, it didn't work at all in the game. They sorta try it in the prologue, where the Hawks are supercharged, but even then it was just a big mess. I think like a lot of other stuff, this was a mixture of not trusting their own concept enough to fully embrace them, and a lack of time.

- No "uniting the races/galaxy/universe/whatever" story. Great, that's a nice step forward. The story in DA2 wasn't that bad, but you could tell Bioware wanted a more "adult" story, with less high-fantasy crap. And that works in let's say Game of Thrones, where the writing and charracters are interesting enough so that the fantasy is merely a backdrop.

[Rufus]

- The idea of having an unreliable narrator, and the "tale within a tale" thing was excellent. However, it didn't work at all in the game. They sorta try it in the prologue, where the Hawks are supercharged, but even then it was just a big mess. I think like a lot of other stuff, this was a mixture of not trusting their own concept enough to fully embrace them, and a lack of time.

In theory I like that too, but in practice it just allows them to disown any fuck-up on their part in the most convenient way. If you write a story with that in the back of your mind...

[michaelius]

After DA2 and ME3 why does anyone even care about this?

It's like being interested what your ex-girlfriend is doing now - you spent some enjoyable times together but after that there was dissapointement and apart from little curiosity nothing else remains.

[Patryn]

looking at the combat videos in Dragon's Dogma, I hope they change the combat to that. The combat in that game looks freakin sweet

I hope they keep the combat from DA2 since DAO combat is garbage boring combat from century years old mechanics.

It makes me sad that Bioware is tuning the Dragon Age series to your tastes. I remember when DA:O came out and they were promising that DA was going to be their old-school RPG series, because Mass Effect was going to be their action-RPG series.

[Kinyou]

One of my problems with bioware games now is all we get to choose now is tone in dialogue. Why the hell cant we pick motivation like in BG2 (i am remembering that right, right?)? I think that would give the player a far more satisfying experience if he was able to determine why he is doing the things he is doing, even if those choices to impact the world at all, than just determining whether the main character is a dbag or a good guy while doing what he is doing. Hell, you can still have tone choices - i mean, you cant have all the dialogue options reflect motivation, but if your motivation is revenge, it would make no sense to pick a goody goody tone option. Having that motivation though, i think would give greater weight to the tone dialogue as well. Only being able to pick tone just seems very lacking and superficial to me

Yeah, I don't know if the superficiality increased in ME3 or if I just noticed it more, but I feel like I had actually far more options of tone in Dragon age 2. (it was also quite superficial, but at least you could take a stand on the Templar / Mage issue)

[bigboss370]

They put up the second part of the panel, the Q&A session. Part 2 (Q&A, second video): http://blog.bioware.com/2012/04/10/b...e-at-pax-east/

was going great until they mentioned it won't be as moddable as DA1 :(

[subversus]

Yeah, I don't know if the superficiality increased in ME3 or if I just noticed it more, but I feel like I had actually far more options of tone in Dragon age 2. (it was also quite superficial, but at least you could take a stand on the Templar / Mage issue)

DAII had a neutral option as far as I remember. ME3 is an abortion in this department. Damn, I can't tell with words how I am sad about the last game in the series and how series turned out in general. Damn, damn, damn. I enjoyed all games but DAMN.

Don't believe their lies

[Lime]

The "I want to be a dragon!" dialogue option basically summarizes Dragon Age and Bioware to me.

[subversus]

The "I want to be a dragon!" dialogue option basically summarizes Dragon Age and Bioware to me.

without any kind of inspiration on their part it's down to this, yeah.

Bioware had some knack to make generic shit entertaining and playable. I hated everything in KOTOR but I still wanted to play it to the end. It wasn't stable on Win 7 unfortunately. I assume this knack came from "we have fun making our games". Now it's gone for the most part.

[Complistic]

Agreed. For the most part I agree, I did enjoy Varric.

I did forget about Varric. He was a good character.

Also after ME3 I'd rather they didn't finish the warden's story. I prefer not knowing so I can assume whatever I wish.

[Kinyou]

DAII had a neutral option as far as I remember. ME3 is an abortion in this department. Damn, I can't tell with words how I am sad about the last game in the series and how series turned out in general. Damn, damn, damn. I enjoyed all games but DAMN.

I'd even take a stupid "joke option" like in DAII over what they did in ME3. Basically all Shepard could say was "I hate the Reapers!" and "I really hate the Reapers!"

Don't believe their lies

"It’s not even in any way like the traditional game endings, where you can say how many endings there are or whether you got ending A, B, or C.....The endings have a lot more sophistication and variety in them.”

[krameriffic]

One of my problems with bioware games now is all we get to choose now is tone in dialogue. Why the hell cant we pick motivation like in BG2 (i am remembering that right, right?)? I think that would give the player a far more satisfying experience if he was able to determine why he is doing the things he is doing, even if those choices to impact the world at all, than just determining whether the main character is a dbag or a good guy while doing what he is doing. Hell, you can still have tone choices - i mean, you cant have all the dialogue options reflect motivation, but if your motivation is revenge, it would make no sense to pick a goody goody tone option. Having that motivation though, i think would give greater weight to the tone dialogue as well. Only being able to pick tone just seems very lacking and superficial to me

The dialog wheel has horribly dumbed down the conversation system in Bioware's games. It was tolerable in ME1 and ME2, but then they just got completely lazy in ME3 and DA2. So many possible meaningful choices stripped out of the game for the sake of a more streamlined adventure.

[SDBurton]

My hope is that they give us The Warden back.

That's all they have to do to get my interest.

[Complistic]

I'm fairly sure I remember reading a dev post where they said you wouldn't be playing as the Warden or Hawke.

[Metroidvania]

The problem with the Warden is that for half (or whatever percentage), the Warden is dead.

For those with a live Warden, what has he/she been doing during the last 3 years? Leliana mentions that he/she is alive and doing stuff behind the scenes, but that they can't locate him/her.

For that, then, assuming Orlais is the setting, how can you re-introduce the Warden as anything more than a cameo, considering half of the people might never see him/her in DA3....unless they say 'oh you didn't really die' like they did with killing Leliana in the Sacred Ashes quest in DA:O, but that undermines all of your DA1 decisions.

Same with Hawke. But I don't really understand making these characters in an open universe that are still alive and kicking, and not expect players to run into them if the time scale remains within the same few years.

[CadetMahoney]

I hope Bioware figures out what made DA1 special and what made DA2 a mess.

From the little we've been shown currently, and from the information we witnessed before and after DA2's release, I can't say that I see anything that shows BW's interest in reviving the DAO spirit. Currently, it looks like they really love DA2, and all they want to do is salvage it any way possible.

pretty much.

[subversus]

Frankly speaking I don't give a damn about Warden because he/she was a blank slate and I don't give a damn about Hawke because he/she sucked. I cared about Shepard but Bioware almost destroyed him/her in the last installation with bland writing (mostly). So basically I don't care, I just want them to do a damn good RPG like they used to.

The best written part in Bioware games is party banter. Ironically DAII features the best party banter in Bioware games.

[SDBurton]

The problem with the Warden is that for half (or whatever percentage), the Warden is dead.

I'm sorry but whoever killed off their Warden was doing it wrong. They can be stuck with the Warden they made for Awakening or whatever. Smh.