Post by Dan @ 03:03pm 22/10/12 | 26 Comments
Creative director Mike Laidlaw said that "customization is going to be bigger than Dragon Age Origins," to include "follower customization," according to producer Cameron Lee's live-tweeting of the event.The first three pieces of concept art from the game have since been released on the developers' blog, and you can get a closer look by mashing the thumbs below.
Asked how much control players would have over their character, lead writer David Gaider said "You will be human," before adding that "backgrounds will be in Dragon Age 3 even though you will be human, it's not playable but it does significant impact on the story." That again was according to Lee's twitter feed.
Other details trickling out suggest that you'll be able to take control of your own castle, and that the game will import prior character choices but, said executive producer Mark Darrah, "we're investigating some ways without save imports."
Dragon Age: Inquisition is expected to arrive in the 2013 holiday season. Targeted platforms have yet to be announced.
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Posted 03:29pm 22/10/12
That's great and all, but will it be re-used 4x?!
The "massive customisation, one player race" thing has me dubious. Late Fall 2013 (so like, September!?) seems disturbingly soon too if they are just showing us concept art now?
Posted 04:00pm 22/10/12
Posted 04:23pm 22/10/12
also, it sucks that they are making your character human only. i would have liked to have chosen my race like in origins.
Posted 04:29pm 22/10/12
Posted 05:07pm 22/10/12
Given how quickly they bashed out DA2 (and the likely heavy focus on SWTOR recently) I am not reassured at all.
Posted 05:08pm 22/10/12
Posted 05:09pm 22/10/12
Yeh ... also DA2 was only released in early March 2011, so the absolute maximum dev time on DA3 (assuming late 2013 release) is what, 2.5 years?
Posted 05:31pm 22/10/12
Posted 05:49pm 22/10/12
I don't mind them limiting the character creation choices, its obviously in aid of being able to tell a more focused story, and I prefer that to the bland, mute player character of DA: Origins. I just hope it has a lot more variation and is a lot more interesting than DA2.
And I want to be able to go to the Tevinter Imperium, that place sounds interesting.
Posted 06:30pm 22/10/12
That worked out well in DA2, didn't it?
I'm really hoping that huge level they're talking about is Deepest Roads, Deep Roads with FOUR TIMES THE ROADS, BALLS DEEP MAN!
Posted 06:44pm 22/10/12
I don't get the rose colored look people have for Origins, go back and play it now and you will see how dated it is both storytelling and gameplay wise. The story might have been better but the method of telling it was not and although the game was on a bigger scale world wise it was still just a bunch of really small uninspired areas stitched together through load screens.
I don't expect much out of this game, I feel like Bioware are treading water until the next generation of console releases so are sticking with the same way of doing things. Even if the maps are larger they will still be Bioware maps in the same Bioware engine they have used for previous games and Bioware are pretty s*** at making maps/levels.
Posted 07:25pm 22/10/12
You liked DA2 for the protagonist's story?
~ . -
Horses, courses thingy I guess.
Posted 07:49pm 22/10/12
It's a better storytelling mechanic IMO, even if the story itself doesn't end up being any better.
Posted 08:06pm 22/10/12
But they don't HAVE to have one protagonist to do that, just more voice work.
They can do it, see SWTOR for example.
Posted 08:18pm 22/10/12
That said, the BioWare label is a strange beast now. EA seems to want to position it like Rockstar is to Take 2, but they're stretching it across so many studios and genres that the Rockstar-esque brand-as-a-badge-of-quality approach will only get harder and harder to attain/retain.
Especially with stuff like Ultima Forever, and the free-to-play Command & Conquer that look like complete license churn (though I'd be happy if they do turn out to actually be decent).
Posted 08:19pm 22/10/12
Posted 08:52pm 22/10/12
That said I have no problem with them restricting the choices to Humans as long as there is a lot more choice in terms of starting story, DA2 was pretty s*** at giving you much choice there.
Posted 08:53pm 22/10/12
Yeh I get that, was basing 'likely heavy focus' on this article mostly ... and it was a side remark specifically in brackets anyway.
DA2 was bashed out quickly, and AT MOST DA3 will have 2.5 years dev, likely much shorter as the DA2 team was working on DLC, patches etc immediately after DA2's launch.
Posted 08:57pm 22/10/12
Posted 09:24pm 22/10/12
As was pointed out in the last DA thread though, theres plenty of those old-school type of RPGs springing up now via indie studios and/or Kickstarter funded projects, so I don't think Dragon Age really needs to be that game.
I'd be happy if Dragon Age became positioned as a kind of fantasy Mass Effect, not necessarily mechanically the same as Mass Effect, but that same kind of cinematic, story driven feel that the Mass Effect series has. I'd be happy if it filled that niche, it just needs to be a hell of a lot better than what they offered up in DA2 to get to that point.
Posted 09:27pm 22/10/12
Posted 09:51pm 22/10/12
If we can see a mature game developed from the errors that many found in the previous title, I think it will be a great success. I loved Dragon Age: Origins, the whole mute protagonist never got to me as it was able to let me delve into the story without some annoying voice actor paraphrasing the choice. Hopefully the choices BioWare make are concise and work out well, otherwise all hell break lose.
Posted 10:15pm 22/10/12
Better story, bigger world, some choices that mattered ... although not enough of this for my liking. It seems like almosy every AAA RPG has the 'choices don't matter, story is on rails' criticism these days. Is it really THAT hard to do a choose-your-own-adventure style game? Skyrim has an absurd amount of content, I'd love to see that sort of content dedication turned to a branching main plot.
Even though ultimately it didn't get worked into the story that much, your choice of starting character in DA:O was a whole new, distinct act. Starting a new game with a new class at the very least wasn't the exact same game.
I'm not against the gameplay mechanics that DA2 brought in, but I'd like to see more allowance for kitting out and customising your character and game experience. DA2 was a reasonably poor story, on rails, stitched together with really bad side quests and stupidly blatant zone repeats.
Part of me hopes DA3 is a good game and brings the best of both together, but being locked into a single choice for initial character with a non-playable backstory doesn't bode well IMO.
Posted 10:23pm 22/10/12
SWTOR did non-mute characters ok though, by not naming them.
Posted 08:56am 23/10/12
Posted 09:10am 23/10/12