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[SolVanderlyn]

Make more sophisticated dialogue tree options that aren't good or evil! Let us also choose between making a witty quip or a compliment, or deciding to flirt or keep things professional.

 

[Trigger]

I hope they open up the character classes more. I liked how Origins allowed me to play with the stats and equipment to create neat configurations. I don't want to be locked in only playing warriors or thieves a certain way.

 

[mysteriousmage09]

I'm actually playing through DA:Origins right now. Would like more of it with Inquisition.

 

[kidko]

Having a couple of morons running around you doing random stuff doesn't make it a party based game. Let alone "tactical".
And you mentioned three third person action games, which is as far away as possible from the direction a game like Dragon Age should go (and on the other hand exactly where it *will* go).

Exactly, so we might as well help them make it good since it's inevitable. Besides, they just don't have the chops for tactical anymore. It's not the same BioWare anymore.

 

[Intheflorsh]

Spoiler

Mass Effect 2 with swords, please.

 

[Patryn]

Thanks for the link. Was very happy to throw in some feedback I've been wanting to get across (even though I know it'll amount to nothing).

Seriously, bring back positional backstabs and I'd especially like the queuing of multiple actions for a single character at a time!

 

[Taruranto]

Spoiler

Mass Effect 2 with swords, please.

So, DA2?

 

[Intheflorsh]

So, DA2?

I'm not going to lie, I had a great time with DA2. It would have been a lot better without the ridiculous level recycling, but the combat and the storytelling were top notch (at least for me).

 

[eot]

I didn't recognize even half the names of the characters in those drop down lists, almost all the party members in DA are so forgettable.

Anyway, pointless poll. Even if they acted on the information that won't make a better game, good writing, good quests, good characterc etc. will be created if they put some talent on the job. Crowdsourcing design has nothing to do with it.

 

[Coconut]

When companies start asking the random dip wads on the Internet to help make their game is when I lose interest in a game.

 

[Derrick01]

You kept playing the game even though you were having a miserable time?

Like most old school crpgs a lot of the non combat stuff was pretty interesting and it's fun watching things change depending on your actions/choices and finding non combat solutions to problems (though they were a lot more involved and in depth in the old days), but I have a tremendously difficult time staying awake and active during the combat in crpgs. The whole dice roll thing is a massive turn off, even more than turn based jrpg combat for me.

 

[MikeDown]

Kiss my ass, bioware social

I like the way you think.

 

[Deified Data]

Completed the survey, but knowing Bioware's definition of fun perhaps they might be encouraged to make a boring game and see how that turns out.

 

[Lime]

Having a couple of morons running around you doing random stuff doesn't make it a party based game. Let alone "tactical".
And you mentioned three third person action games, which is as far away as possible from the direction a game like Dragon Age should go (and on the other hand exactly where it *will* go).

Read my post again and cease the misguided aggressiveness.

 

[Orca]

There are two hour testing sessions of the game running at EA's Burnaby campus next week. I wonder if we'll hear anything out of that from people who get tapped to try it out.

 

[Xilium]

I didn't recognize even half the names of the characters in those drop down lists, almost all the party members in DA are so forgettable.

I put this in my extra comments on the survey but one of the biggest problems I had with the DA games is that you are forced to use certain characters to fill roles if you yourself don't play them. For instance, if you play a DPS class in DA2, you're basically forced to always bring Avaline and Anders along with in order to cover the tank and healer roles (unless you're on PC and mod the game). DA:O wasn't much better with Allistar and Wynne respectively (Though Shale could also be used as a tank if you had the dlc).

Generally speaking, I don't think many people ever got to chance to play with most of the other dps class characters since it's very likely they could only ever bring one along (most people play a dps class), while also bringing along the aforementioned tanks and healers.

 

[Burt]

Make it about Sten.

Always disappointed that I seem to be the only one that loved this big, gruff, flower-picking, cookie-loving, pet-friendly badass.

Also, controller support and isometric combat. And pump the brakes on the relationship obsession. There are Japanese dating sims for that.

 

[rudieboy77]

Do not make the action like Mass Effect, I liked the action of Kingdoms of Amalur as an example.

 

[Intheflorsh]

Make it about Sten.

Always disappointed that I seem to be the only one that loved this big, gruff, flower-picking, cookie-loving, pet-friendly badass.

That guy never left the campfire in my playthough. I never even bothered to change him out of his default rags.

 

[A Black Falcon]

Just put in DA1 PC's battle system again, and it'll be fantastic. I really, REALLY hope that they do it. DA1 was a very good classic PC RPG, once you turned off all of the annoying automation (and zoomed out the camera during battle) and actually played it like it should be.

If this is another DA2, though, I won't be playing it anytime soon.

 

[shinobi602]

Like most old school crpgs a lot of the non combat stuff was pretty interesting and it's fun watching things change depending on your actions/choices and finding non combat solutions to problems (though they were a lot more involved and in depth in the old days), but I have a tremendously difficult time staying awake and active during the combat in crpgs. The whole dice roll thing is a massive turn off, even more than turn based jrpg combat for me.

So you were putting the story and non-combat elements over gameplay? I thought you were vehemently against that. I thought the combat was the weakest part of DAO and liked everything else about the game, so it's just strange seeing you agree with that.

 

[Some Nobody]

I want to play those type of games, but normally do not because of the menu systems. Mass Effect did an ok job of doing what I am asking Bioware to do, and because of this, my wife and I beat all three games together.

EDIT

The same applies to pure RPGs. What I want and assume would be easy to do is to give the player the option (at the beginning of the game) that would allow the user to just pick up and play through the game without having to grind at all. This would allow non-rpg players the ability to experience the game without any of the hassles associated with rpgs. I think it is money just being left on the table for developers. There has to be many of us who want to experience these type of games but not put in 50 to 80 hours.

What? Fuck no. Watch movies. Nobody asks for fighting games to make combos super easy.

 

[spirity]

When companies start asking the random dip wads on the Internet to help make their game is when I lose interest in a game.

I filled it out, as I meet the criteria of a random dip wad (pretty sure its dick though), but it doesn't instill confidence does it. The answers will be all over the place, and trying to please everyone will not only be impossible, but the result would be disastrous. I hope this is just some nutty PR.

 

[DodgerSan]

I hope most people who care enough to answer this opt for the more tactical play of DA:O.

 

[Miletius]

I filled it out. I did not remember who my party was in DA1, so I picked the dog, somebody that started with an S, and somebody that started with a Z. Sounds like the choices I'd make.

Whenever somebody puts a phrase like "dark, gritty, realism" I laugh a little bit. Wasn't, "dark, gritty, realism" a thing in like 2006?

Oh, and stay away from the sex and romance, Bioware. I actually kind of like the trend nowadays where every main RPG character doesn't necessarily needs a slot to place his penis into by the end of the game. Sometimes it's appropriate, sometimes it isn't. Plus, you aren't very good at making it seem anything other than super contrived bullshit, so I'll just pass.

 

[Xilium]

So you were putting the story and non-combat elements over gameplay? I thought you were vehemently against that. I thought the combat was the weakest part of DAO and liked everything else about the game, so it's just strange seeing you agree with that.

Are there really that many people out there that truly believe that combat in most WRPGs is good? I thought it was pretty universally accepted that WRPG combat is usually just passable at best and is just something you put up with to enjoy other aspects of the game.

I hope most people who care enough to answer this opt for the more tactical play of DA:O.

I just want them to pick a side. I have no real issue with either style of combat system but DA2's hybrid system was just plain bad. They just need to choose whether they want to make a tactical or action RPG and focus on balancing the game's mechanics around that.

 

[Succinct Verbosity]

Cut out romance entirely, unless you actually find a better way to pursue them. Simple dialogue trees are not sufficient. I'm not asking for a creepy dating simulator, but I do think there should be more ways to strike out than to strike lucky.

 

[Derrick01]

Are there really that many people out there that truly believe that combat in most WRPGs is good? I thought it was pretty universally accepted that WRPG combat is usually just passable at best and is just something you put up with to enjoy other aspects of the game.

Pretty much. There are so many reasons why crpgs are beloved and none of them are the combat in any of the games I can think of.

 

[stn]

I want everything in DA1, the combat of DA2, and LOOTING. I want an actual reward for plowing through endless enemies, chests, and areas. Why can't RPG's have more loot?

 

[Shambles]

See: Dragon Age Origins.

 

[Farslain]

They were going to start another file but then remembered the fade, deep roads and the other 2 hour long dungeons with seemingly endless waves of enemies and lost all their will to play it again.

Sounds eerily similar to my feelings on that game.

Oh delicious nostalgia, you'll have me replaying it if you're not careful

It wasn't perfect, but it reminded me so much of old school pc rpg's I forgave it anything and played every ounce of gameplay it had to offer.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Every time you seek to make a change that is made under the assumption that the player is a window-licking idiot. DON'T.

If you INSIST upon going into ARPG territory, learn from these folks or from these fine folks.

Abandoning Infinity-esque combat to be yet another forgettable sludgy, reductive ARPG in a limpid sea of similar titles is agonizingly dim.

I want to play those type of games, but normally do not because of the menu systems. Mass Effect did an ok job of doing what I am asking Bioware to do, and because of this, my wife and I beat all three games together.

EDIT

The same applies to pure RPGs. What I want and assume would be easy to do is to give the player the option (at the beginning of the game) that would allow the user to just pick up and play through the game without having to grind at all. This would allow non-rpg players the ability to experience the game without any of the hassles associated with rpgs. I think it is money just being left on the table for developers. There has to be many of us who want to experience these type of games but not put in 50 to 80 hours.

Yeah, to avoid grinding is called "playing better". At least in good RPGs.

 

[Sentenza]

Are there really that many people out there that truly believe that combat in most WRPGs is good? I thought it was pretty universally accepted that WRPG combat is usually just passable at best and is just something you put up with to enjoy other aspects of the game.

Well, sounds mostly a GAF-endorsed myth to me. Plenty of bad or average combat systems, sure, as plenty of good ones among WRPGs.
BG2, ToEE, JA2, Fallout 2, etc come to mind.
In fact I don't think the average JRPG combat is any better, generally speaking. But of course, stating it here is generally perceived as a heresy.

Pretty much. There are so many reasons why crpgs are beloved and none of them are the combat in any of the games I can think of.

If the combat isn't at least rough but likable and rewarding (i.e. Gothic II or Torment, just to pick two very different ones) chances are i will hate playing the game even if everything else should make me like it (i.e. Mask of the Betrayer, Arcanum).

 

[Dr. Kitty Muffins]

I'm all about tactical turn based combat.

 

[Jhriad]

Kiss my ass, bioware social

If they had separated out 'Intimate Relationships' and 'Romance' I would have put more importance on relationships over romance. I could care less who I'm going to fuck but I want deep, meaningful relationships with my cast of characters.

 

[Sentenza]

I want everything in DA1, the combat of DA2, and LOOTING. I want an actual reward for plowing through endless enemies, chests, and areas. Why can't RPG's have more loot?

It isn't much about having "more loot" as about having more interesting loot.
BG2 hit a heavenly spot in this sense, as the game had plenty of powerful and unique items (to the point that most hardcore grumpy purists cried about it being far too focused on "power playing", which frankly is something I'm completely fine with) that felt like proper rewards for your accomplishments.
Any Diablo-like can have even ten times the number of items, and they will still feel meaningless and generic to me.

 

[Haeleos]

Dear Bioware... If you're going to make it an overhead TBS/RTS game, look to your older games for inspiration. If you're going to make an action RPG, look to Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma and The Witcher 2 for inspiration.

You should decide which one it's going to be and stop doing this half and half thing. Make a game you want to play, not one designed by committee that appeals to a scatter shot audience... your games have been soulless for the past half decade because of your design philosophies. You can also begin to regain my confidence by not asking people how to make your games fun again.

 

[Red Mage]

1) Allow me to alter the control set up.
2) Let me move tactics "up" or "down" without redoing them.
3) Make my companion A.I. Smart enough to disarm traps. I don't like switching to the party rogue for this when I play a mage or warrior.

 

[Ranger X]

Dear Bioware,

I can't tell you for free what your Game Designer are paid for: making that game fun.
Unless you actually want to take me in the payroll?

 

[Xilium]

Well, sounds mostly a GAF-endorsed myth to me. Plenty of bad or average combat systems, sure, as plenty of good ones among WRPGs.
BG2, ToEE, JA2, Fallout 2, etc come to mind.
In fact I don't think the average JRPG combat is any better, generally speaking. But of course, stating it here is generally perceived as a heresy.

I probably should have added the 'modern' qualifier. Whenever people bring up good WRPG systems, it's always older games.

And yeah, the average JRPG isn't much better but I think they tend to have more high points than WRPGs.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

If you want action combat then just make action combat and try to make it as good and responsive as possible. This half and half with action and dice rolls drives me nuts and it results in a mess. A flashy mess, but a mess nonetheless. Go the Witcher 3/Dark Souls route with it.

So much of this. Either go full action (à la Dark Souls, Dragon's Dogma or Kingdoms of Amalur), or go 100% turn-based. Fuck action-with-pause, worst thing ever. Worst of both worlds really.

Oh yes, and fuck romance too. Barf.

 

[Bananajama]

Just don't repeat the nonsense of DA2. Add essence of BG2. And you're on to a winner.

Love the combat elements where you pause mid combat to plan your next moves. Some people obviously don't like it but you know what.

I want games that I enjoy too

 

[Nirolak]

Dear Bioware,

I can't tell you for free what your Game Designer are paid for: making that game fun.
Unless you actually want to take me in the payroll?

Did you actually read what was in the survey?

They're not asking for how to implement things, they're asking things like "What consoles do you own?" and "Which of these elements is most important to you?"

 

[pixlexic]

Put fucking controller support in your fucking PC games.

seconded

 

[Some Nobody]

Are there really that many people out there that truly believe that combat in most WRPGs is good? I thought it was pretty universally accepted that WRPG combat is usually just passable at best and is just something you put up with to enjoy other aspects of the game.

Easy though it was, it was FUN to kill shit in Amalur: Reckoning.

 

[Sentenza]

Easy though it was, it was FUN to kill shit in Amalur: Reckoning.

It was terrible button mashing with an unlikable flashy look, as far as I'm concerned.

 

[spirity]

Dark Messiah and Severance: Blade of Darkness were two examples of rpg's that stepped beyond the usual mediocre combat of the genre.

 

[Sentenza]

Dark Messiah and Severance: Blade of Darkness were two examples of rpg's that stepped beyond the usual mediocre combat of the genre.

Severance was great.
Dark Messiah... Eh, it was mostly ok for a first person melee combat, but I would argue that first person melee combat isn't a great idea in the first place.
Also, Mount & Blade was stellar.

 

[Punchy4486]

I get the strange feeling that their decisions are already locked in and this survey will just tell them how to market, skew, or emphasize the decisions they've already made.

"Guys, they say they don't care about romance! Let's leave that out if the previews and say it's less of a focus! Don't mention that we spent half of our dev time working on the different combos of threesomes you can have!"

 

[Ogimachi]

If you want action combat then just make action combat and try to make it as good and responsive as possible. This half and half with action and dice rolls drives me nuts and it results in a mess. A flashy mess, but a mess nonetheless. Go the Witcher 3/Dark Souls route with it.

After that I'll just hope they don't dumb any RPG elements down on the side. I don't really have a preference for this series because I didn't like either game for different reasons so I'm open to anything that doesn't remind me of Skyrim.

That's what I wrote in the last box of the survey. Skyrim is IMO the prime example of everything that's wrong with modern RPGs. It's also the most successful, so I doubt Bioware is going to make something very different.