BioWare - Checking Out Skyrim for Dragon Age 3

[DArtagnan]

Absolutely.

I don't believe for a second they will take anything significant from Skyrim as such. It's certainly possible DA3 is more open - but that decision would have already been made. A company the size of EA would expect every project carefully scoped - the broad design has already been laid out, in my opinion.

I've also seen BioWare make too many comments about "that would take too many resources" and "we need to carefully weigh content that wouldn't be used by the majority of players" - a more closed, linear design is built into their DNA.

Still, I'd quite enjoy a happy medium between the two, so fingers crossed for the result.

I think you're underestimating the impact on suits of "10 million copies sold".

They've been trying to reach that number for a while, by going away from their genre of choice.

Along comes a relatively "hardcore" cRPG and totally obliterates EA/Bio.

Oh, it will have an effect - I have no doubt.

 

[Dhruin]

We'll see. I have no doubt they sat up and paid attention, but I also believe the game is already scoped and they have a pathological desire to make sure players can only tread two paths at most.

My guess is the killer feature Muzyka talked about is multiplayer, not a huge open world. That said, I'm sure it will be more open than DA2, because they got slaughtered by the limited nature.

 

[DArtagnan]

We'll see. I have no doubt they sat up and paid attention, but I also believe the game is already scoped and they have a pathological desire to make sure players can only tread two paths at most.

My guess is the killer feature Muzyka talked about is multiplayer, not a huge open world. That said, I'm sure it will be more open than DA2, because they got slaughtered by the limited nature.

Yeah, who knows what will happen. It's more or less for sure that it can't be as bad as DA2. I just don't believe that can happen twice

 

[Twotricks]

If Bioware(EA) is looking for new direction for Dragon Age, let them look in past at Baldurs Gate - What DA:O was supposed to be, and what they promised. And for what they made initial sales.

But BW:EA lost their way. They dont know what game they want to make. They only look at what games are sucessful and try to apply "Bioware formula" (read: dialogue tree) to them

Bioware formula Gears of war = Mass Effect 2
Bioware formula WOW = SWTOR
Bioware formula TES = Dragon Age 3 ?!

 

[lostforever]

I enjoyed DAO more than Skyrim. So there!

Skyrim is very good game but I am bored of it now after about good 50 hours of play. The problem I have with Skyrim is, I don't care about the world or even the characters who live in it.

However I think Bio should take the open world from Skyrim and populate with characters whom you care about. Then we will have real winner (for me anyway).

 

[Nathanyl]

If Bioware(EA) is looking for new direction for Dragon Age, let them look in past at Baldurs Gate - What DA:O was supposed to be, and what they promised. And for what they made initial sales.

But BW:EA lost their way. They dont know what game they want to make. They only look at what games are sucessful and try to apply "Bioware formula" (read: dialogue tree) to them

Bioware formula Gears of war = Mass Effect 2
Bioware formula WOW = SWTOR
Bioware formula TES = Dragon Age 3 ?!

I tend to agree. I'm playing SWTOR now, and I'm not sure whether I like it or not. It's almost to story driven and just doesn't feel quite right. MA2 was just a shooter with a strong story, alright, but not on the same level as MA1 which I thought was a good game. I thought DA:Origins was a good game but not what I expected, and DA2 was just barely ok. I'm hoping that with SWTOR out they'll be able shift more resources back to they're single player games and at least get back to the quality of DAO.

As for Skyrim, I have 112 hours played and still have 2 major cities I haven't even gone to yet. I've barely touched the main quest and it'll probably be a year or 2 before I finish. It's a great game, although I won't call it the greatest ever since different games effect me in different ways.

 

[Dez]

I have spent roughly 200 hours in skyrim and there is no end to be seen in near future. So yes its definitely game of the year for me

That being said its quite sad to whitness how low bioware has sinked over couple of years. Why do these gaming sites even interview the bioware doctors when all they can do is spew vacuous marketing speech.

The studio used to make great games, but lately it feels like they have totally lost their touch to reality, not one inch of artistic vision left in that company. All they seem to do nowdays is look for gaming trends and statistics instead of making "the best story-driven games in the world” or what ever their motto used to be.

 

[Carnifex]

Considering how Biobeast slayed the DA franchise with the last game, they should just leave it dead. However, I know that, in this day and age, zombies are quite popular. Very few companies do the zombie thing well. So, let DA be, pour some lime over the corpse, and walk away. Quickly!


-Carn

 

[jwmeep]

My own thoughts on the Skyrim thing: It's a great game, but I agree with what Jay Branson has said about it.

that appears from my vantage point to have only a passing resemblance to an RPG

In way I'm glad it's successful for Bethesda, but I can't say I'm happy with the simplified direction that is clearly the future for Bethesda. Skyrim is more like a sandbox game with Diablo like elements, than an RPG.

They're not checking out Skyrim, they're checking out the amount of copies shipped.

Nailed it. As Dhruin's pointed out, Bioware has already said something along the lines of "we don't 'do' open world games. That's not who we are." Just like Bethesda has said "we don't do games with turn based combat, and strong storylines." Bethesda does open world games, with lots of freedom, Bioware does games with strong stories and writing. I think the only possibility is DA3 having more areas, and possibly (though not likely) have some optional areas like Baldur's Gate 2, that the player doesn't have to visit if they don't want to. "See guys, there is our exploration, just like Skyrim, now buy our game."

As for Dragon Age, to this day Dragon Age 2 mystifies me. Dragon Age was a successful game for Bioware. It was the intended spiritual successor to Baldur's Gate. Sure there was some "evolution" to make it possible on the consoles, but it did have a few old school conventions. With a little polish it could have been great. And yet depsite the success, they threw everything out and rebooted the series to be more like Mass Effect. No more trying to define your own character, you are "Hawke", threw in the dialog wheel, threw out Origin stories, threw out the tactical combat, etc. Plus the usual mentioned problems of repeated levels, and so on. The Dialog wheel in particular irritates me off, when Bioware themselves defended the choice of not having one in the first game, and then they suddenly throw one in for DA2.

All in all DA2 was a much different game from DA1, not having any of the elements of DA1, and I can't understand for the life of me why, when DA1 was so successful for Bioware.

Anyways here is hoping DA3 feels more like the first one.

 

[Ithilien]

Dragon Age Origins was a fantastic game, and if they had managed the DLC part right it could have been epic (the way Night of the Raven made Gothic 2 epic). Awakening was decent, but the rest of the DLC was totally crap, and there was just too many loose threads. Dragon Age 2 was terrible, especially the DLC hell (it never felt like the complete product).

What I want from Bioware is something similar to Dragon Age Origins, just bigger. And they have to change their DLC policy (drop all these exclusive weapons etc and all minor stuff, and concentrate on content - like they used to do with Baldurs Gate etc).

I don't expect Bioware to deliver, so I won't buy their games for full price (I'll just wait until they are sold for £10-15) until they change their business philosophy.

 

[hishadow]

As with Dragon Age 2, Bioware choose the cash-in route by associating the next game with Skyrim. The only thing they care about are the 10M sales, DA2s estimate before it tanked.

 

[Holly Avenger]

All in all DA2 was a much different game from DA1, not having any of the elements of DA1, and I can't understand for the life of me why, when DA1 was so successful for Bioware.

I suspect it's due to Bioware's recent obsession with trying to produce an RPG that will appeal to the Call of Duty crowd… it's a move towards making a game that sells well, for less cost and be damned if it's best game we could make.

They're a company trying to make money, so I can understand where they're coming from, but it's sad to see any pride and respect for their games fading into the background as they streamline and bolt on "features" that will appeal to their new target audience (e.g. multiplayer in ME3).

Which all makes Skyrim a very interesting beast that must be sending shockwaves around the Bioware offices… it has achieved exactly the sales they want with DA and ME, but has done so resolutely clinging to the game it wants to be and NOT bolting on pointless features like multiplayer to appeal to new customers. It's the antithesis of Bioware's recent policy and must be galling when compared to how their strategy is failing.

 

[NFLed]

I enjoyed Dragon Age 2 quite a bit, better than DA1. I also enjoy Skyrim a whole lot, it's one of the very best games evarrr. I would like to see much more of an open world vibe in DA3 than DA2. It's good to see developers open to different ideas. Since Baldur's Gate Bioware hasn't made a single PC game I haven't gone gaga over (I haven't tried TOR yet). I wasn't a huge fan of Bethesda's games until Skyrim although I somewhat enjoyed all of their previous games (back to Arena).

 

[Black Rune]

BioWare can check out whoever they want! It is not helping them anymore.

 

[Black Rune]

Everyone is entitled to their own oppinion.

I have played RPG games since 1980. Starting with original Rogue that was running on a computer that is less than todays chip in a music postcard.

I played well, probably all PC RPGs ever released. And except of that am playing and mastering pen and paper games since 80s too.


In my oppinion Skyrim, with all it faults (and it has many) is best RPG ever released. And its only going to get better.

Until now that laureate belonged to Baldurs Gate 2.
But Dragon Age , tried hard to be BG. But it was far far from it. Perhaps just a tickle in nostalgia bone.
Dragon Age 2 was a money grab joke.
Dragon Age 3 , may be good if real Bioware develops it…

But you want to hear a secret ?
There is no more Bioware. They closed forever.
Its EA now.

Big respect to you sir. Virtual adventures since 1980. Nice! I was not even born then. So your opinion means a lot. And I agree with you on every statement you wrote.

Yes,BioWare is no more. It is just a well known name (brand). So,in that glory of a brand EA wants ever more profit. Capitalism is dangerous virus I tell you.
Still I hope they can make DA3 turn around for the better. But I am skeptical about it.
Bethesda is worthy of its RPG games and its name. So is Project RED, Piranha Bytes, Radon Labs and few indie developers. Respect to them for making good quality RPG's!

 

[SpoonFULL]

It no longer an issue of innovation in narrative and gameplay, it is a matter of statistics as someone else has mentioned. If the numbers and profits for DA2 are more favourable then they will follow on this formula. Decisions are made higher up purely based on business and profit bases, and these decisions are then conveyed down to the developer (tools) to make the product (not the other way round as it used to be). These are business decisions and models and they are creeping in hospitals, schools, universities, institutions .. etc. So one should not be surprised if this happens to Bioware (EA's tool).

It seems that the only venue left for innovation is with indie developers!

 

[basharran]

Still when checking on metascore DA2 didn't do bad at all with more than a 8. Personally I liked DA:O better as it felt more oldskool (I guess) and allowed you to develop you own character. That said I liked the streamlined story from DA2 as well, as being a very entertaining story. This was due to the focus on a smaller area and one main character.

As for Skyrim, there is too much content in that game with too little regard for urgency and therefore I am distracted all the time. I'm the person who would like to explore as many areas and do as many quests as possible, but it's just not gonna work in a TES game. It looks nice, there is tons of material to be played, but for me it's not gonna work (might as well be the last TES game I've ever bought).

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and luckily for all the devs out there everyone like something different!

 

[Harlequin]

Really Ray? Are we so bankrupt for ideas, inspiration and creativity we are now just outright saying we need to look outside the studio for concepts?

What he really means however is something different then how it came off, let me translate the Biospeak. "We see how many units Skyrim sold in such a short time breaking records with ease, and want a part of that pie. We are also envious of the production values, ability for Beth to put as much time and resources into a game as they want until they consider it done because we used to be able to do that until we sold out to EA and now just another cog in their machine. We see that is what we could have become, but now never will as our hands are tied to be able to ever put out a game like that again. Perhaps if we tell our EA overlords we want to copy skyrim they will see the value in that and let us as they are too afraid to let us do anything unique anymore as they poses to much risk in their eyes."

M2C

 

[rune_74]

My head actually hurts from reading some of the stupidity in this thread. Bioware looking at other games is not a bad thing, but here it is twisted to mean something evil. God guys, they make games, not weapons of mass distruction. If you have played the new star wars MMO from bioware you would see they have made a great new game.

 

[BillSeurer]

I enjoyed DA:O.
I am enjoying Skyrim.

Yes, it is quite possible to like them both. I consider them two of my favorite cRPGs ever.