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Jawmuncher

Crisis Dino
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
38,510
Ibis Island
A successful iteration would be evolving and improving the foundation they made with Inquisition would it not?


Without knowing how the GAAS elements and multiplayer were coming together, it is misguided to assume this was going to be another Anthem or Avengers. The game was always going to be a singleplayer action rpg with a multiplayer mode, and service elements would have been in both parts to a varying degree. GAAS as a genre descriptor is not a correct use of the term, and should encompass a combination of post-launch content, updates, and community engagement.

Bringing back anything to inquisitor points would be a step back.
 
Oct 30, 2017
2,206
I do not necessarily mean ad hoc, but improving on Inquisition as it was the most successful and widely praised should be part of expectations.

I think it would be better to build on DAO's, I also do remember them saying something about making it a more focused experience since many people had issues with Inquisition suffering from bloat and being tedious. Ive been replaying it, and it quickly becomes boring getting caught up in all the open world fetch quests and gathering you can do. Then I remember its not so bad when I get back to the story.
 

bitcloudrzr

Member
May 31, 2018
13,939
I think it would be better to build on DAO's, I also do remember them saying something about making it a more focused experience since many people had issues with Inquisition suffering from bloat and being tedious. Ive been replaying it, and it quickly becomes boring getting caught up in all the open world fetch quests and gathering you can do. Then I remember its not so bad when I get back to the story.
They will likely incorporate positive elements from both games and hopefully have more meaningful activities in the open zones.

It's still gonna be cross gen isn't it?:/
Maybe not for a 2022 game.
 
Oct 27, 2017
39,148
Yep, they are going for a cyberpunk-medieval look with DA4


Tevinter-Dragon-age-4-image-2-1.jpg
Hmm

I am feeling it!
 

disparate

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,904
I think it would be better to build on DAO's, I also do remember them saying something about making it a more focused experience since many people had issues with Inquisition suffering from bloat and being tedious. Ive been replaying it, and it quickly becomes boring getting caught up in all the open world fetch quests and gathering you can do. Then I remember its not so bad when I get back to the story.
DAO is pretty much a worse RPG in every way, presentation, writing, music, art, mechanically, etc. DAO tries to stick with D&D because it's openly a rip-off, but that's also why the gameplay is worse than simply doing something new. Even with how bad the Hinterlands are- the latter areas like Crestwood and eventually the Frostback Basin are better designed than any of the areas in Origins.
 

Deleted member 17184

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,240
I think it would be better to build on DAO's, I also do remember them saying something about making it a more focused experience since many people had issues with Inquisition suffering from bloat and being tedious. Ive been replaying it, and it quickly becomes boring getting caught up in all the open world fetch quests and gathering you can do. Then I remember its not so bad when I get back to the story.
If you're on PC, get one of the mods on Nexus that adds gathering items to some of the vendors.
 

Kalentan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
44,693
DAO is pretty much a worse RPG in every way, presentation, writing, music, art, mechanically, etc. DAO tries to stick with D&D because it's openly a rip-off, but that's also why the gameplay is worse than simply doing something new. Even with how bad the Hinterlands are- the latter areas like Crestwood and eventually the Frostback Basin are better designed than any of the areas in Origins.

The world and lore while having some interesting ideas in Origins didn't really come into it's own until DA2 and then majorily DA:I where it felt like they finally knew what they wanted to do. DAI felt like they realized they didn't need to do the whole: "D&D but waaaaaay edgier" shtick and just do their own thing.
 
Oct 30, 2017
2,206
DAO is pretty much a worse RPG in every way, presentation, writing, music, art, mechanically, etc. DAO tries to stick with D&D because it's openly a rip-off, but that's also why the gameplay is worse than simply doing something new.

How is origins to much D&D but Inquisition isn't? I think origins has a lot of issues, especially the combat. But Inquisition follows much of the same structure while being bloated and boring in so many other areas. I'm only replaying it to get to the DLC which I heard is great.
 
Oct 30, 2017
2,206
If you're on PC, get one of the mods on Nexus that adds gathering items to some of the vendors.

Playing on console. Mods would probably help. Im not to worried about all the gathering. Its easy enough to get through the story, ignoring everything with very little consequence. The issue is feeling like I have to clear maps.
 

disparate

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,904
How is origins to much D&D but Inquisition isn't? I think origins has a lot of issues, especially the combat. But Inquisition follows much of the same structure while being bloated and boring in so many other areas. I'm only replaying it to get to the DLC which I heard is great.
Like I said, the early areas like the Hinterlands or Storm Coast are bad, but you can see how they learned to design their areas to be more guided experiences like Crestwood and Frostback where they make the narrative of the area is designed to take you places naturally.
 

Jawmuncher

Crisis Dino
Moderator
Oct 25, 2017
38,510
Ibis Island
I do not necessarily mean ad hoc, but improving on Inquisition as it was the most successful and widely praised should be part of expectations.
Theres definitely elements of Inquistion that are good. Just personally the inquisitor point system and there not really being a lot of main missions (as the game was mostly just side content you'd do to unlock said story content) is the primary aspect I don't want to see return in any form.
 

disparate

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,904
Theres definitely elements of Inquistion that are good. Just personally the inquisitor point system and there not really being a lot of main missions (as the game was mostly just side content you'd do to unlock said story content) is the primary aspect I don't want to see return in any form.
The wartable and stuff was IIRC their compromise for having the game need to run on the 360 because I think they had army and base building instead. I personally don't think it returns anyway.
 

bitcloudrzr

Member
May 31, 2018
13,939
Theres definitely elements of Inquistion that are good. Just personally the inquisitor point system and there not really being a lot of main missions (as the game was mostly just side content you'd do to unlock said story content) is the primary aspect I don't want to see return in any form.
Oh I thought that was a typo.
 

SofNascimento

cursed
Member
Oct 28, 2017
21,337
São Paulo - Brazil
😬

Those cookie-cutter sidequests were bad, though. They all even used the same 3 or so level layouts. lmao

ME1 get a pass for that. DA2 should too!

And I also should add that by far the weakest area in Inquisition was Val Royeaux, which I would go to the lengths of saying is one of the worse, if not the very worst, cities in a RPG. Kirkwall in comparison was pretty cool, if not exactly top tier material. So if Bioware wants to deliver the potential of that picture of the Tevinter capital that was posted before, then have to rethink how they approach level design in the next DA.
 

Freezasaurus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
57,002
ME1 get a pass for that. DA2 should too!
Normally I would agree. But some of these sidequest areas were literally one room! And it was the same room pretty often! I understand having to deal with limited resources, but this was pretty bad.

And I also should add that by far the weakest area in Inquisition was Val Royeaux, which I would go to the lengths of saying is one of the worse, if not the very worst, cities in a RPG.
It wasn't a very fun area, I'll give you that. I think comparing it against all cities across every RPG is a bit much, though. I'm sure there are far worse.
 
Sep 14, 2018
4,625
oh my sweet summer child

the business model of a game absolutely determines how a game will be designed and what type of genre it is
I'm surprised this needed to be said, if it was always going to be a SP RPG why was it news when it was reported otherwise?
The next Dragon Age, which doesn't yet have an official title or release date, had previously been designed with a heavy multiplayer component, said the people, who asked not to be named because they were not authorized to speak to the press. In recent months, it has transformed into a single-player-only game after EA was stung by a recent multiplayer flop.

The move is a significant shift for Redwood City, California-based EA, which in recent years has pushed almost all of its games to include online components that can be monetized following their releases.
That's Bloomberg. "Heavy multiplayer component" "Significant shift". This is 1 month old revisionist history, bravo.
 

Deleted member 17184

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 27, 2017
5,240
I'm surprised this needed to be said, if it was always going to be a SP RPG why was it news when it was reported otherwise?

That's Bloomberg. "Heavy multiplayer component" "Significant shift". This is 1 month old revisionist history, bravo.
Both Mass Effect 3 and Andromeda had a heavy multiplayer component. The key difference that I think some people and I are saying is that we don't think the singleplayer and multiplayer were integrated into one another. Ever since the first trailer in 2018, there was a story about Solas. We don't know how big the changes were. We're only saying that there was a singleplayer mode, and it's still there.
 

Musubi

Unshakable Resolve - Prophet of Truth
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
23,611
I have an actual modicum of hope that this Dragon Age won't suck.
 

Phellps

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,810
oh my sweet summer child

the business model of a game absolutely determines how a game will be designed and what type of genre it is
Ok, come on, spare me the condescending "summer child" thing. Specially if you're going to reply to a single line out of my entire post. GaaS isn't a genre. There are GaaS shooters, GaaS RPGs, GaaS racers, GaaS fighting games, GaaS MOBAs, GaaS card games. There are GaaS titles of every genre. The last three Assassin's Creed games are GaaS titles that play exactly like a non-GaaS Assassin's Creed would, except Ubisoft is out there releasing new items to be purchased. The prototype footage BioWare showed made it clear that it was going to be a game very much in line with the rest of the series, and as people have posted above, Bloomberg has reported the game used to have a "multiplayer component". It wouldn't be a "component" if being a GaaS title was dictating how the game as a whole was being designed.

Take it from the same Bloomberg article; if the cancelation of the "multiplayer component" represented a big drawback, the report would've mentioned it.
 
Sep 14, 2018
4,625
Ok, come on, spare me the condescending "summer child" thing. Specially if you're going to reply to a single line out of my entire post. GaaS isn't a genre. There are GaaS shooters, GaaS RPGs, GaaS racers, GaaS fighting games, GaaS MOBAs, GaaS card games. There are GaaS titles of every genre. The last three Assassin's Creed games are GaaS titles that play exactly like a non-GaaS Assassin's Creed would, except Ubisoft is out there releasing new items to be purchased. The prototype footage BioWare showed made it clear that it was going to be a game very much in line with the rest of the series, and as people have posted above, Bloomberg has reported the game used to have a "multiplayer component". It wouldn't be a "component" if being a GaaS title was dictating how the game as a whole was being designed.

Take it from the same Bloomberg article; if the cancelation of the "multiplayer component" represented a big drawback, the report would've mentioned it.
It doesn't have to spell out it's a drawback, just saying it's a big shift and change in priorities. What I assume that user is inferring is that repeatedly interrupting development to put out fires in other BW games, and shifting first from SP only to GaaS and then backwards again is probably not a recipe for cohesion and success.

Which is the entirely non controversial point that user was alluding to in the first place, worried about where the game will end up. Well that is understandable considering recent BW history and what has been reported about this specific game's development.

There are a lot of lapsed fans that want to be excited about BW games again, I think most people just want to see them put out a great game and jump back in the fan train.

And just because I know it's coming: no one has a problem with GaaS when it's Horizon getting a big DLC expansion, it's more the treadmill stuff people are tired of, and things like RE3 remake cutting out half the og locations but finding the time and money to add a MP thing no one was asking for or wanted apparently.

Or for a more topical example, wasn't Anthem sold as being a story heavy Bioware thing? But it didn't pan out because they had to shoehorn in the whole living game thing? I'm not up to date on my Anthem lore but I think that's what happened.
 
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Phellps

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,810
It doesn't have to spell out it's a drawback, just saying it's a big shift and change in priorities. What I assume that user is inferring is that repeatedly interrupting development to put out fires in other BW games, and shifting first from SP only to GaaS and then backwards again is probably not a recipe for cohesion and success.

Which is the entirely non controversial point that user was alluding to in the first place, worried about where the game will end up. Well that is understandable considering recent BW history and what has been reported about this specific game's development.

There are a lot of lapsed fans that want to be excited about BW games again, I think most people just want to see them put out a great game and jump back in the fan train.
Every time a studio is going through issues developing a game, reports state it outright. And Schreier's sources have always been very blunt about the issues BioWare had, that was very much clear in his pieces about Anthem and Andromeda. A "big shift" most likely means there was a considerable part of the team working on the multiplayer and now they're free to focus on the single player portion.

The narrative that the next Dragon Age was going to be a full-fledged GaaS title in the likes of Anthem was dismissed by Schreier's sources quite a while ago:

Rumor among BioWare circles for the past year has been that Morrison is "Anthem with dragons"—a snarky label conveyed to me by several people—but a couple of current BioWare employees have waved me off that description. "The idea was that Anthem would be the online game and that Dragon Age and Mass Effect, while they may experiment with online portions, that's not what defines them as franchises," said one. "I don't think you'll see us completely change those franchises."
Source

So there's that. There's a lot of work involved in making a separate multiplayer mode, specially nowadays when the bar for multiplayer mode has been set rather high. They would also need to plan a long roadmap for post launch updates, because the point was to keep that multiplayer mode alive for as long as they could. So obviously not having to even think about that anymore is going to represent a big shift in the team as they can now fully focus on one thing.

It never read as "Well, they're starting from scratch again because everything revolved around GaaS", which is what that member's worry seemed to stem from, as they said (well, actually, they said it meant changing genres, which is what I initially argued against because GaaS isn't a genre).
 
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Dandy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,462
ME1 get a pass for that. DA2 should too!

And I also should add that by far the weakest area in Inquisition was Val Royeaux, which I would go to the lengths of saying is one of the worse, if not the very worst, cities in a RPG. Kirkwall in comparison was pretty cool, if not exactly top tier material. So if Bioware wants to deliver the potential of that picture of the Tevinter capital that was posted before, then have to rethink how they approach level design in the next DA.
Val Royeaux was so disappointing. You hear about Orlais all the time in the first games and supplemental material as being so grand and amazing... and then you get to hang out in a courtyard, essentially. Denerim was more impressive.
 

Poodlestrike

Smooth vs. Crunchy
Administrator
Oct 25, 2017
13,496
Looks gr8. They're really setting up a great look to Tevinter, very distinctive (Bloodborne did not invent hats).
 
Mar 23, 2018
2,654
I've been meaning to play the Dragon Age games for almost a decade. I don't know why I did not. It seems to fit all of my fantasy world checks... Did it stand the pass of time or should I wait for a collection?


As for this art and the one from the trailer, it looks really good.
 

Mivey

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,827
I assuming we are looking at a dark alley way in Tevinter, where I assume DA4 will take place, going by the events in DA:I and its DLC.

And I really don't like the design, honestly. It looks like a very stereotypical wizard. Especially the hat. The overly flat look of the concept art doesn't really help here either.

When I look at existing designs for Tevinter mages here, https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Tevinter_Imperium#Culture,
1000


and compare them against this, then this one for DA4 seems incredibly safe and boring.
 
Oct 26, 2017
3,340
I assuming we are looking at a dark alley way in Tevinter, where I assume DA4 will take place, going by the events in DA:I and its DLC.

And I really don't like the design, honestly. It looks like a very stereotypical wizard. Especially the hat. The overly flat look of the concept art doesn't really help here either.

When I look at existing designs for Tevinter mages here, https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Tevinter_Imperium#Culture,
1000


and compare them against this, then this one for DA4 seems incredibly safe and boring.

We don't even know if the character in the art is a Tevinter mage. And isn't that specifically a Venatori mage?
 

Mivey

Member
Oct 25, 2017
17,827
We don't even know if the character in the art is a Tevinter mage. And isn't that specifically a Venatori mage?
I think so, but I posted it as a reference for how mages in Tevinter can look like. My understanding of the Venatori as a nationalist cult means they would likely go for more traditionalist designs (relative to their culture).

But it's a fair point, the character could very well not be Tevinter. Still looks dull to me. 🤷‍♀️