The Witcher 3 Announcement Intimidates EA, BioWare and Dragon Age III

[Jack_in_the-Green]

There's room for an excellent TW3 and and excellent DA3. (Not saying that DA3 WILL be excellent, you understand, just saying that there's room for it. />/>/>/> ) There are not that many AAA role-playing games being made, and my wish is not that TW3 will blow DA3 out of the water but that both games will be wonderful.

I loved DA:O (not as much as TW1, but I still loved it) and hated DA2. I'm keeping an open mind about DA3; we'll see what it looks like when it gets here.

Jeff Vogel, who makes good indie RPG's, said that his sales go UP every time a major RPG is released, because the hype over a major RPG convinces some gamers to try a genre they've never tried before, and some of them decide that they like it. So if DA3 should turn out to be a good game, that would only be good for CDPR, because it would bring in some new RPG players. And when new RPG players look around to see what other great RPG's are out there, once they've been converted to the genre, someone will tell them about the Witcher games. />/>/>/>

Bashing other games doesn't prove the superiority of the Witcher games; it merely makes Witcher fans look small. The Witcher games can stand up to any competition; we don't have to tear down the fans of other games to show how much The Witcher shines.

I agree with Cory on the fundamentals. />/>/> Moreover, I think the audience of both games overlaps more than the few thousands of hardcore fans (on either side of the wall />/>/>) that post on forums would imagine.

I even encountered many RPG gamers (in real life) that both liked Dragon Age 2 and The Witcher 2. I dont agree with them... />/>/> But I would say that the majority of gamers have less issues and are more forgiving, and dont picture themselves in "team Bioware" or "team REDs"...

 

[FoggyFishburne]

Well I doubt the validity of the article though I wouldn't be too surprised if BioWare really are shitting themselves a bit. Here we have an established RPG video game developer, creating critically and commercially successful games like Baldurs Gate, KotOR and Dragon Age: Origins and then comes a humble newcomer and blows every single one of their games out of the water. It's impressive as hell.

I used to consider myself a BioWare fan (kinda ashamed of it now) but you can't argue that BioWare is in any way better than RED. RED is objectively better than BW in every aspect. What's so inspiring about this whole situation is the RED just recently popped up from nowhere and released The Witcher with BWs one in-house engine, subsequently earning the respect of critics and gamers alike. I get the impression that RED doesn't have a huge fan base yet. Good. Honestly, I'd prefer it if that's how it continued. I mean just check the BSN forums... Even before the shit games DA2 and ME3, people there were just scary :S

Instead of offering any kind of insightful critique or pointing out positive aspects, they were just masturbating over the romances, demanding to be able to romance different mates, crying if they didn't get what they want. The community destroyed BW. Well, BWs own incompetence helped as well obviously. Depressing situation. Though I'm just thankful I have RED for my RPG fix! Unfortunately, RED insists on taking their sweet god damn time masterfully crafting their games. Boooh! I need to play your games, adopt a yearly release cycle already! DO IT NAO!

Nah but seriously, it's hard to ignore how awesome RED is and BioWare, if they aren't, should be afraid. They've got competition and so far, RED is leading by miles!

 

[Blothulfur]

I agree with Cory on the fundamentals. Moreover, I think the audience of both games overlaps more than the few thousands of hardcore fans (on either side of the wall ) that post on forums would imagine.

I even encountered many RPG gamers (in real life) that both liked Dragon Age 2 and The Witcher 2. I dont agree with them... But I would say that the majority of gamers have less issues and are more forgiving, and dont picture themselves in "team Bioware" or "team REDs"...

It's funny for me, because I kind of judge the Witcher games as the diametric opposite of the Dragon Age games, and can't imagine anybody playing one to like the other. They just seem to be so far apart stylistically and design wise, guess that's a limitation of mine. Though after spending around 60 hours on Dragon Age 2 (and £35) Assassins of Kings was the perfect balm for all the endless boring combat, dull grey recycled areas, idiotic character caricatures, infantile plot and moronic cutesy conversation.

Still if that's your bag, more power to you, I suppose in a way that if you can like such low quality and high quality products then you're sitting pretty in terms of choice.

 

[ReptilePZ]

There really are many people that enjoy both games (meaning DA:O and TW1/TW2), I am one of them. However, I do like them for entirely different reasons. DA2 definitely was a letdown (at least for me, I know a bunch of people actually loved the game) but I wouldn't call Dragon Age a low quality product.

 

[Blothulfur]

I wouldn't call it a low quality product, they obviously spent a lot of money on it, i'd call it intellectually bankrupt, poorly plotted, dumbed down and a herald of everything that's bad in modern game design. But no not low quality.

The longer we accept work of that quality and support companies that make it, the more steps the industry takes away from making good games. Giving somebody a pass on the hope that their next game is better doesn't really appeal to me, I will have allready wasted my money and more importantly my time. Why waste that precious free time on the inferior Dragon Age when a clearly superior competitor exists.

But as I says that's only my opinion, and everybody likes what everybody likes, the world would be a poorer place if we were all alike.

Edit: CDPR have twice gone back and made an enhanced edition of their games because they were not pleased with the end product, that speaks to their pride in their own product. In between that they've continually added features and dlc in patches that were proving irritants to many players. That speaks of artistic integrity and damn good customer service, the kind of attitude that shames those who merely promise that their next game will be better. Supporting CDPR makes sense as a customer and as a someone wishing to see such sterling service spread throughout the industry.

Sorry, rant off.

 

[Jack_in_the-Green]

It's funny for me, because I kind of judge the Witcher games as the diametric opposite of the Dragon Age games, and can't imagine anybody playing one to like the other. They just seem to be so far apart stylistically and design wise, guess that's a limitation of mine. Though after spending around 60 hours on Dragon Age 2 (and £35) Assassins of Kings was the perfect balm for all the endless boring combat, dull grey recycled areas, idiotic character caricatures, infantile plot and moronic cutesy conversation.

Still if that's your bag, more power to you, I suppose in a way that if you can like such low quality and high quality products then you're sitting pretty in terms of choice.

Its not my bag... I literally loath DA 2, and share your views on Bioware, preeetty much 100%...

Im just telling true fact of some RPG fauna Ive encountered this last year... What is that they like about the 2 games..., I cannot fathom...

 

[Garrison72]

It's hard to enjoy their games like I used to because CDPR has made me aware of the glaring deficiencies in their writing and their approach to roleplaying. Replaying the city elf origin in DA just made me wince. Nonetheless, I still fire up Mass Effect occasionally. I think that game was pretty revolutionary for the time and the atmosphere and soundtrack are as good as any.

 

[Blothulfur]

Oh wasn't singling you out Jack, I was adressing that to all those who do like Dragon Age, don't want to be seen as discouraging them or trying to dissuade them.

 

[ReptilePZ]

I wouldn't call it a low quality product, they obviously spent a lot of money on it, i'd call it intellectually bankrupt, poorly plotted, dumbed down and a herald of everything that's bad in modern game design. But no not low quality.

The longer we accept work of that quality and support companies that make it, the more steps the industry takes away from making good games. Giving somebody a pass on the hope that their next game is better doesn't really appeal to me, I will have allready wasted my money and more importantly my time. Why waste that precious free time on the inferior Dragon Age when a clearly superior competitor exists.

But as I says that's only my opinion, and everybody likes what everybody likes, the world would be a poorer place if we were all alike.

Edit: CDPR have twice gone back and made an enhanced edition of their games because they were not pleased with the end product, that speaks to their pride in their own product. In between that they've continually added features and dlc in patches that were proving irritants to many players. That speaks of artistic integrity and damn good customer service, the kind of attitude that shames those who merely promise that their next game will be better. Supporting CDPR makes sense as a customer and as a someone wishing to see such sterling service spread throughout the industry.

Sorry, rant off.

Don't get me wrong, I understand that not everybody likes the same things somebody else does. What I was referring to was:

Still if that's your bag, more power to you, I suppose in a way that if you can like such low quality and high quality products then you're sitting pretty in terms of choice.

 

[Blothulfur]

Oh that, well I mean low quality in terms of narrative (its idiotic,) characters (fan service caricatures,) locations (dull grey and repetitive,) and the setting (no verisimillitude, is basically a renaissance fayre, not a realistic world in its own right.) The production values are however top quality, as always.

 

[ReptilePZ]

Oh that, well I mean low quality in terms of narrative (its idiotic,) characters (fan service caricatures,) locations (dull grey and repetitive,) and the setting (no verisimillitude, is basically a renaissance fayre, not a realistic world in its own right.) The production values are however top quality, as always.

That makes sense then.

Since The Witcher games are my favourite ones and I like them because they're so niche and hit all the right notes for me, I know exactly why you enjoy them and I can totally see your point about DA's plot, characters, world etc.

 

[80maxwell08]

Um I should point out that entire website is a joke website like The Onion. I fell for it a while ago when they posted this about Dark Souls 2.
http://www.p4rgaming.com/?p=718
So yeah sorry to spoil your fun but hey I fell for it too a while ago.

 

[Blothulfur]

Do tell me if I seem to be ranting, as i'm a bit of a git at times, just say calm down Bloth and i'll go and grab a beer. Don't mean to try and alienate or discourage people, we're all sons and daughters of Kaer Morhen here.

 

[secondchildren]

Oh that, well I mean low quality in terms of narrative (its idiotic,) characters (fan service caricatures,) locations (dull grey and repetitive,) and the setting (no verisimillitude, is basically a renaissance fayre, not a realistic world in its own right.) The production values are however top quality, as always.

Damn Blothulfur! You're speaking up my mind very well, can't really agree more.

I'm actually still hoping to see improvement in Bioware. If DA3 would be worth playing, I wouldn't dislike to have it.
In a golden age, I'm not forgetting that Bioware developed P:T, BG series, Icewind dale series and NWN.


Mass Effect series also is worthy in the end

 

[Blothulfur]

Well Planescape and Icewind Dale were Black Isle i'm afraid Secondchildren, but I see your point BG2 was excellent in a lot of ways.

 

[ReptilePZ]

Damn Blothulfur! You're speaking up my mind very well, can't really agree more.

I'm actually still hoping to see improvement in Bioware. If DA3 would be worth playing, I wouldn't dislike to have it.
In a golden age, I'm not forgetting that Bioware developed P:T, BG series, Icewind dale series and NWN.


Mass Effect series also is worthy in the end

Ahem, Icewind Dale was developed by Black Isle and Planescape: Torment was developed by Interplay, not BioWare.

 

[CostinRaz]

Mass Effect series also is worthy in the end

If you discount ME3 then sure it is worthy as a series.

With regards to DA3, should it prove to be a good game I'd more then welcome it. Do I expect anything approaching the quality of the witcher? No, but even DA:O or better yet DA:A quality would be fine, better yet if it's ME1 or ME2 quality.

To me however, should DA3 prove to be a failure then I honestly hope Bioware finally get's shut down by EA. No company should get away with the shit they're responsible for and I longer wish to see the series I came to love for a time being destroyed by their developers.

 

[Fandango9641]

Dragon Age 2 must be the only game I’ve ever legitimately hated, but I share the hope that Inquisition will be outstanding. I’m not all that hopeful mind, but early signs are actually pretty good.

 

[Blothulfur]

Hold the phone, They're calling the game Inquistion? As in nobody ever expects the Inquistion, oh this calls for SIGNIFICANT mockery.

 

[Fandango9641]

Hold the phone, They're calling the game Inquistion? As in nobody ever expects the Inquistion, oh this calls for SIGNIFICANT mockery.

But now you've done told us to expect it Blothulfur!