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[Jb]

Thanks for posting that writeup!
I'm a little disappointed they're not doing a day/night cycle, it kind of goes against the whole feeling of exploring environments for hours in vast lands that worked so well in Elder Scrolls games. It sort of worked in Infamous because the city is still fairly small and the story occurs over a short-ish period of time.

 

[Enduin]

Thanks for posting that writeup!
I'm a little disappointed they're not doing a day/night cycle, it kind of goes against the whole feeling of exploring environments for hours in vast lands that worked so well in Elder Scrolls games. It sort of worked in Infamous because the city is still fairly small and the story occurs over a short-ish period of time.

Yeah it's definitely nice to have dynamic day/night, but it has it's trade offs when trying to establish a very deliberate atmosphere and mood to an area. I mean they could go the route most open world games go and speed up time to the desired one for story events and stuff, but that's kind of jarring and would be weird if you reach a castle to assault and all of a sudden time speeds up from early morning to dead of night. They said they're still exploring is so they may go that route, or have certain areas dynamic and others locked into a time of day.

 

[BouncyFrag]

Not a big fan of the inquisitor floppy hat. Bioware can be bit or miss in regards to headgear, especially for mages.

 

[Ashtar]

Apparently they wanted to include black people in previous games but their lighting engine was so bad it just made things look cartoonishly racist.

Interesting I never knew

Well, as a black man I always made my character in DA look black or well as close to it as you could get in those games. However, my problem has always been this with regards to games that let you create your own characters, where are all the black hairstyles? Even if a game lets you create a black characeter they almost never have that many black hairstyles, you get maybe an Afro, a buzz cutt, and some dreads or cornrows (lol) and that's it. Cmon yall, do the work create more than 2-4 black hairstyles, you already have over 25 vastly different white dude and female hair cuts.

I will say though Mass Effect is one of the few games where you can create a pretty darn good looking black character.

Just gimme a fresh Caesar and I'm good, no one but Pusha T rocking struggle braids after 2001

Assuming that's leather armor, rogue will definitely be my first playthrough character. I want that hat!

That Hat is awesome! I want!

Bunch of new info from the last BioWare PAX panel was written up by an attending blogger. Other info came out from the entire event as well though. Don't know if there's a big roundup anywhere of all the confirmed info though. Stuff like the comments on there being 3 of each class for companions, Iron Bull being a 2h warrior, and Cassandra and Cullen being romanceable.



I like that they seem to be focusing on players preparing for their expeditions out into the world. Removing regenerating health, limiting potions you can carry, and the resources to make healing potions and limits on how much mages can heal, if at all. They seem to be going for a somewhat quasi-simulation aspect of the game with all that plus things like environmental weather and animal populations and how our interactions with them affect things.

I really really hope the Dragon hunts live up to their statements. I really want to have to investigate and track down dragons and seriously prepare for fights against them. I'll be really sad if I can just go after one with barely any real forethought or preparation and take them down. I want to really be pushed in order to take one of these things down.

Thanks for the link sounds like great stuff

 

[Lone_Prodigy]

Dragon hunting sounds like Dragon's Dogma.

 

[Rodney McKay]

I like that they seem to be focusing on players preparing for their expeditions out into the world. Removing regenerating health, limiting potions you can carry, and the resources to make healing potions and limits on how much mages can heal, if at all. They seem to be going for a somewhat quasi-simulation aspect of the game with all that plus things like environmental weather and animal populations and how our interactions with them affect things.

I really really hope the Dragon hunts live up to their statements. I really want to have to investigate and track down dragons and seriously prepare for fights against them. I'll be really sad if I can just go after one with barely any real forethought or preparation and take them down. I want to really be pushed in order to take one of these things down.

Hmm, don't like the sound of this much to be honest. I liked how DA1 handled healing fine, and I seem to remember DA2 (what little I do remember) already tweaked healing just enough that I didn't like it as much.

No day/night cycle seems like an odd choice as well. Different areas having different times of day reminds me a bit of Fable 1, where different areas would always be raining or snowing.

 

[ironcreed]

I like that they seem to be focusing on players preparing for their expeditions out into the world. Removing regenerating health, limiting potions you can carry, and the resources to make healing potions and limits on how much mages can heal, if at all. They seem to be going for a somewhat quasi-simulation aspect of the game with all that plus things like environmental weather and animal populations and how our interactions with them affect things.

Sounds very involved and immersive. I dig it.

 

[SuperEpicGuy]

How did I miss this thread when it was originally posted? These screenshots look gorgeous.

 

[ChaosDent]

The health management changes sound much more reminiscent of D&D than the original Dragon Age health system. I wonder if they will have a "camp" option that lets you restore your health at the risk of a random encounter.

 

[Enduin]

The health management changes sound much more reminiscent of D&D than the original Dragon Age health system. I wonder if they will have a "camp" option that lets you restore your health at the risk of a random encounter.

I don't think they're going that route since they talk about establishing Inquisition outposts in areas as safe havens so I feel like camping wouldn't be in the cards, but rather you'd have to make your way back to one of these secured locations.

I wonder if they're going to bring back the various injuries from DAO. It would make sense given their stance on healing and what not so far that they would bring back that complexity. Though it may be that the new healing/health system plus injuries could be too burdensome. But I thought it was a cool system in DAO that wasn't as clear as it could have been and then they dumbed down for DA2.

 

[tringworldso]

Given the scope of the game, I can't help but feel a little sad at there being 9 companions. I wish there were 12 of them. That way we could have gotten a lot of diversity in terms of gender and race.

 

[Jibbajabbawockky]

I wonder if they're going to bring back the various injuries from DAO. It would make sense given their stance on healing and what not so far that they would bring back that complexity. Though it may be that the new healing/health system plus injuries could be too burdensome. But I thought it was a cool system in DAO that wasn't as clear as it could have been and then they dumbed down for DA2.

I'd be happy with that. Like you said, it wasn't really fleshed out much in Origins and DA2 pretty much got rid of it from what I recall. But the idea is interesting.


So much of their talk about Inquisition sounds promising but I just cannot trust these guys to actually back up their talk with actions. Things like the agents and building keeps sounds promising but I can also think how that sort of stuff could feel overly "game-y" and abused via microtransactions and DLC. Or some of the more aspects of a dynamic world sound great, but then you think on the fact that modern BioWare has never really ever done a more open, dynamic world in any of their games.

I'm genuinely very curious about this game since I loved Origins but despised DA2 for many reasons. Alot of what they're talking about sounds great but then I remember that it's being made by mostly the team/leadership that made DA2, which was shit even with the extenuating circumstances regarding it's development time.

 

[Enduin]

Given the scope of the game, I can't help but feel a little sad at there being 9 companions. I wish there were 12 of them. That way we could have gotten a lot of diversity in terms of gender and race.

I think it's a tough balancing act. Even at 9 I feel like I'm likely not going to use a couple all that much. In a series like DA where banter and conversations are a really big part of the experience having too many companions dilutes that experience because only so much time and attention can be given to them during development and within the game world, not even taking into account how players will interact with them, or not. But like you said smaller rosters limit the diversity and potential insights they provide on different issues and places in the world.

Then you have the whole issue of just having them there as info dumps and whether or not they actually add anything to the story and overall plot. I'm still really curious as to why Varric and Cassandra are in the party and what reasons BioWare has to include them, especially because David Gaider has gone on the record saying that they aren't and won't be including companions based on popularity or request and that characters will only return as the plot requires, if there isn't a good reason that makes sense and adds to the story they won't be returning just cause.

 

[tringworldso]

I think it's a tough balancing act. Even at 9 I feel like I'm likely not going to use a couple all that much. In a series like DA where banter and conversations are a really big part of the experience having too many companions dilutes that experience because only so much time and attention can be given to them during development and within the game world, not even taking into account how players will interact with them, or not. But like you said smaller rosters limit the diversity and potential insights they provide on different issues and places in the world.

Then you have the whole issue of just having them there as info dumps and whether or not they actually add anything to the story and overall plot. I'm still really curious as to why Varric and Cassandra are in the party and what reasons BioWare has to include them, especially because David Gaider has gone on the record saying that they aren't and won't be including companions based on popularity or request and that characters will only return as the plot requires, if there isn't a good reason that makes sense and adds to the story they won't be returning just cause.

Yes, you make very valid points there Enduin. That's true like you say that if there are too many characters then it could backfire especially with all the new stuff they are adding this time around.

But yes, I'm still not really sure why Cassandra and Varric are being offered as full-time companions. Temporary ones I can understand but full time feels a lot like pandering. Even if they had an important role in DA2 I don't understand why they'd include the two characters from DA2 that had the most screen-time after Hawke. Then I'm hearing stuff about Cullen and all. Why not new characters? If they are going to stick with 9 , might as well make them new companions right?

It's just that I'm really missing DA:O a lot and this game is being made by DA2 peeps so it feels like they are incorporating more of DA2 rather than DA:O stuff. I just hope party banter is like DA:O and not DA2 where chatting with a party member was only during quests or their own personal quests.

 

[Enduin]

Yes, you make very valid points there Enduin. That's true like you say that if there are too many characters then it could backfire especially with all the new stuff they are adding this time around.

But yes, I'm still not really sure why Cassandra and Varric are being offered as full-time companions. Temporary ones I can understand but full time feels a lot like pandering. Even if they had an important role in DA2 I don't understand why they'd include the two characters from DA2 that had the most screen-time after Hawke. Then I'm hearing stuff about Cullen and all. Why not new characters? If they are going to stick with 9 , might as well make them new companions right?

It's just that I'm really missing DA:O a lot and this game is being made by DA2 peeps so it feels like they are incorporating more of DA2 rather than DA:O stuff. I just hope party banter is like DA:O and not DA2 where chatting with a party member was only during quests or their own personal quests.

I'm holding out hope that there is good reason for Cassandra and Varric from what David Gaider said about their threshold for including past characters being quite high. Plus I liked both of them so I'm not totally bothered by that, just curious as to how they play such a central role in an event rather far removed from Hawke. Same for whatever reason Cullen is involved, despite my finding him to be a boring character. It makes it all the more intriguing if BioWare truly is setting high standards for including past characters in the story because that would then mean there are interesting and believable reasons for their involvement.

As for the overall game DAO and DA2 were made by the same people, I don't think there was much, if any, real difference between the teams. All the major players were the same and remain the same with DAI. So it's hard to say where everything will fall in the end. DA2 was 1 part misguided intentions and 2 parts rushed development. We can already tell they've spent almost 3 times as long developing DAI than they did with DA2, so hopefully that won't be an issue. And for the most part they seem to have taken a good look at what went wrong with DA2 on the fundamental level.

We've still seen only just a little bit of the game though. For the most part we don't know much at all and have seen very little. DAO and DA2 had horrendous marketing, I hope DAI's will be both informative and not cringe worthy.

 

[Patryn]

We've still seen only just a little bit of the game though. For the most part we don't know much at all and have seen very little. DAO and DA2 had horrendous marketing, I hope DAI's will be both informative and not cringe worthy.

You may as well wish for a pony. Of course it's going to be terrible and do the game a great disservice. EA has proven nothing more than it has no clue how to market these games.

I'm just hoping we avoid the heavy metal.

 

[VaultBoy101]

I like that "Area variety" is the #1 item on their list. Lesson learned?

 

[Enduin]

You may as well wish for a pony. Of course it's going to be terrible and do the game a great disservice. EA has proven nothing more than it has no clue how to market these games.

I'm just hoping we avoid the heavy metal.

I know, but one can dream. Say what you will about DA2's marketing(acrobatics everywhere!), but at least it was free of terrible Marilyn Manson's New Shit.

 

[TheHall]

All i need from DA2 is less focus on a single NPC.

I found that unless you are playing a healing mage yourself, you NEED to have Anders around all the time and he was such a drag.

 

[Ridesh]

All games need a gameplay trailer like the GTA V one, but to me the marketing so far has been good, but timid, for example, the PAX gameplay demo was great and they explained a lot of the systems pretty well. Why not release a shorter version of that demo, or another one similar, with the same explanations?

I'm pretty pretty sure that a lot of people don't even know that the tactical camera is back.