Dragon Age IV

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I'm skeptical on numerous dimensions, but I hope that you're right. With the screw-ups that Bethesda has been making lately, we really need somebody to step up and help CDPR carry the torch for these types of major RPG-ish game releases. That used to be Bioware. Maybe it can be again.

You have to be skeptical when it comes to bioware and EA. The closed Alpha was seriously limited, but within that limited play that I got to experience I enjoyed it a lot.
 
It's pretty simple.
Action games sell more copies.

I think you're absolutely right Su but I still can't understand how they chose that route soooo quickly and with so little regard for what DA:O brought to the gamers who liked it.

I mean, why bother making DA:O if you're not even gonna continue the formula into at least the very next sequel? If it changed over the course of 2-3 games it'd be more understandable, though no less disappointing. How did they expect fans to feel?

Then, as you correctly say, they pulled back a bit for DA:I but again, why bother with that either? If they didn't care enough about the DA:O crowd to begin with, why backtrack later?

My best guess is they were just greedy AND foolish. As you said, they went more action-y but they also somehow believed they could still cater to the original fans. Like the franchise was a big snowball that would just gather loyal fans with different tastes and get bigger regardless of how they changed gameplay. It was nonsense. To me, that's like releasing Dark Souls, making it a lot easier, adding quick saves, microtransactions, air combos and a fully voiced protagonist, then expecting the original fans to continue to love it in addition to the new customers you'll bring in.

Seems like it was a mess of creative direction from EA to me, like a bunch of suits who don't understand the players just trying to magically please everyone to get the big bucks without even knowing what makes them tick. Bah, rant over ;)
 
Then, as you correctly say, they pulled back a bit for DA:I but again, why bother with that either? If they didn't care enough about the DA:O crowd to begin with, why backtrack later?

My best guess is they were just greedy AND foolish. As you said, they went more action-y but they also somehow believed they could still cater to the original fans.
My understanding (via the rumor mill, so don't quote me on any of this) is DA:2 was the result of a limited budget and a VERY short development time courtesy of E/A (who'd bought Bioware in 2007). The only reason Origins didn't suffer E/As hand was it was to far along in development when E/A bought Bioware. And even then E/A pushed for DA:O on consoles, it was origionally PC only, that changed in 2008, this is why the PC controls didn't suck.

We all know how DA:2 was received, I'd bet it was E/A that pulled back, not Bioware. Thus allowing DA:I to be "better" then 2 but still not what Origins was, more stress on "action", less on story, choice, and consequence. And forget the darker tone Origins had! Can't have that ... no, no, no!
 

DA:2 actually needed a full year more before release (rumor mill), but EA wanted to increase the numbers for the 2nd quarter of that year if I remember correctly (for the stock holders of course) and forced BioWare to get the game out the door. Hence the repeated sets, bad textures and Elfs that had ears bigger then a 57 Chevy, and on and on. Plus it was a game with a 'rail road' story. I forced myself to play it through only because I spent $60 (USD) on it and I per-ordered it to boot. It's sitting on a shelf somewhere collecting dust.

DA:Inquisition was a better game but still had a ton of flaws in it but really didn't feel like a DA game. As I mentioned before, I'm not holding my breath on a DA:4, and certainly not excited about it.
 
My understanding (via the rumor mill, so don't quote me on any of this) is DA:2 was the result of a limited budget and a VERY short development time courtesy of E/A (who'd bought Bioware in 2007). The only reason Origins didn't suffer E/As hand was it was to far along in development when E/A bought Bioware. And even then E/A pushed for DA:O on consoles, it was origionally PC only, that changed in 2008, this is why the PC controls didn't suck.

We all know how DA:2 was received, I'd bet it was E/A that pulled back, not Bioware. Thus allowing DA:I to be "better" then 2 but still not what Origins was, more stress on "action", less on story, choice, and consequence. And forget the darker tone Origins had! Can't have that ... no, no, no!
Yep.

EA purchased Bioware to get SWTOR, which at the time had never been announced as anything more than an unnamed MMO that Bioware was secretly working on. However, it was pretty widely rumored to be a Star Wars MMO, which turned out to be true. I think that EA was also interested in the Mass Effect IP, but not so much as the Star Wars MMO. Dragon Age, on the other hand, was the pet project of the classic RPG folks at Bioware, and was intended to combine the best of their single player RPG talent with their world building talent. It was never intended as an action game, and they went to great lengths to emphasize that.

Thus, Dragon Age as envisioned by Pre-EA Bioware was a niche product that never would have interested EA. But as @Suhiira says, it was so far along that EA just had them finish it up and scale it way back so it would function on consoles. Pre-EA Bioware never had any intention of their new grand RPG working on anything but PC, and they made that clear as well.

The reason I remember this is because Dragon Age was the game I had always envisioned somebody making some day, and now it was going to be made by the most talented RPG company in the industry. The early test gameplay footage they released just confirmed to me that it was going to be the greatest thing ever, taking all of the character that was Baldur's Gate and scaling it up massively. Then the doctors sold out to EA, and the only slice we ever got of what old Bioware had envisioned was the version of DAO we got, with the console millstone hung around its neck. I'm still bummed about it even after all these years.
 
How in case of Mass Effect 2?

I've no specifics to give, can't remember. I lost interest already when they started advertising it and decided to move on. It sounded like they just turned it even more into a narrative driven shooter, and I've never really been a fan of their drama either. Mass Effect was a nice one off, and that was enough for me (I thought it didn't need a more-of-the-same sequel, it wasn't that good).
 
I found Mass Effect 2 boring when you had to mine the planets . I bought mass Effect Andromeda cheap and didn`t think it was as bad as others had said .
 
I've no specifics to give, can't remember. I lost interest already when they started advertising it and decided to move on. It sounded like they just turned it even more into a narrative driven shooter, and I've never really been a fan of their drama either. Mass Effect was a nice one off, and that was enough for me (I thought it didn't need a more-of-the-same sequel, it wasn't that good).
Well, they didn't turn it into Fallout and Might & Magic, but they took nearly every element of the first game and refined it. People probably can argue the story and atmosphere, because it's individual, but they got rid of hindrances of the first game and refined the rest.
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I found Mass Effect 2 boring when you had to mine the planets . I bought mass Effect Andromeda cheap and didn`t think it was as bad as others had said .
Mining planets was a very minor part of the game. And it was less tiresome and useless as driving empty planets in the first game. I think it was the worst part of the first game and the fact that they got rid of it in the sequel was a blessing.
 
Well, they didn't turn it into Fallout and Might & Magic, but they took nearly every element of the first game and refined it. People probably can argue the story and atmosphere, because it's individual, but they got rid of hindrances of the first game and refined the rest.

I'll take your word for it. Perhaps some day I'll give it a shot.
 
@ Lelxrv i didn`t get to play the first ME because i play on the PS and it wasn`t released on that platform.
 
I'll take your word for it. Perhaps some day I'll give it a shot.
Mass Effect 2 was the last legit great game from the studio. Even though I have some love for ME3. Mostly for it's DLC expansions.
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@ Lelxrv i didn`t get to play the first ME because i play on the PS and it wasn`t released on that platform.
You missed a good game, but planet exploration was very rough and largely waste of time. Mining was tedious, but it was lesser evil.
 
Mass Effect 2 was the last legit great game from the studio. Even though I have some love for ME3. Mostly for it's DLC expansions.

If they get the whole trilogy cheap in GOG someday, I might run through it to see what the fuss was all about. That has been my condition for it.
 
If they get the whole trilogy cheap in GOG someday, I might run through it to see what the fuss was all about. That has been my condition for it.
I'll be surprised if it ever arrives on GOG. They hold it hostage on EA's personal shop (vomit). Maybe 1-2 are still being sold on Steam.
 
i didn`t get to play the first ME because i play on the PS and it wasn`t released on that platform.
Mass Effect was released on PS3 as part of the "Mass Effect Trilogy" in 2013. You can get all three games for cheap these days. Also included a handful of the DLC expansions (including Lair of the Shadow Broker, Kasumi, Overlord, and Bring Down the Sky ... which were all good).

But I digress ... Dragon Age IV
 
Dragon Age and Mass Effect seems very similar when it comes to story.
Both went down from part to part, which is sad cause both first parts Mass Effect and Dragon Age: Origins were both amazing, some will call it matserpieces.
Sadly after that the spiral went down. DA2 had a too short development and after ME1 EA/Bioware get Mac Walters, who destroyed the ME lore once and forever... and get the same man to lead the Bioware Montreal Crew for MEA... yeah...

DA2 still was cool. Dungeon recyceling was lame af and many quest related bugs. But all in all an intresting story and good character development. The absoult ending was not so great (cause no matter what you do the same will happen). I don't see the problem why you cannot decide to pick a side and fight the other instead of always end fighting both... but anyway.

DA:I had good graphics (very beautiful landscapes) but this only hid a really miserable story, a boring and pale protagonist and antagonist, giant empty maps with boring quests (like an MMO server where yu are the only user).
In fact the story, the telling of the story, the ending etc, really pisses me off. This is nothing compared to the former Bioware titels.
Within this my hopes are extremly low on DA4.

Especially when I think about: ME3 was bad and after this there came a even worse ME title
DA:I was bad and.... maybe something even worse will come.

Yeah I know, I should not treat a game bad from which I saw nothing so far, but the constant downgoing of storywriting and -telling in EA/Bioware titles give me low hopes about it all...
 
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