DA3 Tidbits for those interested

I know most folks here have given up on Bioware but while I have my reservations I have still enjoyed the Dragon Age and ME games so I still follow them, if not as closely as I might something like Project Eternity.

So for those who are also interested in any news on DA3 here are some scraps from the forums, primarily from QuickSilver (whom I am quoting).

so this is just a wrap up of what was tweet about the edmonton expo DA3 stuff

Protagonist is human.

Player can choose different backgrounds for their character that will affect portions of the story.

Warden and Hawke may appear if you played the first two games and as NPCs.

Flemeth is coming back. (said somewhat jokingly)

Dragon Age is not a trilogy but there will be a close to certain stories, “threads.”

The is a big Qunari story waiting to be told. Not a big focus of the story but we will learn more.

Importing save files from previous games are presenting an issue due to the switch engines. However they are looking at how to keep the Player’s choices.

We are going across many lands this time around.

(not sure about the problem with save imports thought didn't see that this is someone else summary)

this is the save import tweet

{Cameron Lee @BioWare ‏@Cameron__Lee"how will you handle save game import?" Mark: we will bring choices across, we're investigating some ways without save imports}

http://kotaku.com/5953484/castles-an…dragon-age-iii

Character customization will return "in a big way" for Dragon Age III according to a BioWare panel spilling details and concept art on next year's game at the at the Edmonton Comic & Entertainment Expo today.

Already known as Dragon Age III: Inquisition and slated for a "late fall 2013" release, BioWare said it would release concept art being shown at the expo later today. Cinematic designer Jon Perry said that "one level in Dragon Age 3 is as big as all of the levels in Dragon Age 2."

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.

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."

Oh and QuickSilver also posted a link at BSN with some concept art (scroll to the top of page one on the link below):

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/to…658/1#14597527

and slated for a "late fall 2013" release,

Who wanna bet it get pushed back to March 2014?

Originally Posted by azarhal
Who wanna bet it get pushed back to March 2014?

I do. March has been there favorite month for there latest releases. Probably ties in with there quarterly earnings.

For now, I couldn't care less about Dragon Age III… Until it'll be proved without question that it's much more similar to Origins that DA II.

I find it interesting that they're really steering clear of the whole RPG debate. Instead we're told lots about how shiny DA3 will be.

We have two pieces of information on the 'RPG' front. Firstly, Laidlaw at some convention said that DA3 would be "an RPG the way it's supposed to be" - read into that what you will, given that the words are coming from Laidlaw. Secondly, we're told that there's more customization. Which is what we were told about ME3 - and the evidence there speaks for itself.

I know for certain that I won't preorder DA3. Will I buy it depends what I'll read here on RPGwatch when it gets released. I rushed on DA2 and while I can't say it's rubbish, it simply wasn't fun.

Originally Posted by Gaxkang
Secondly, we're told that there's more customization. Which is what we were told about ME3 - and the evidence there speaks for itself.

ME3 hit the sweet spot between somewhat more abundant, but often meaningless customization options from ME1 and unnecessarily limited system from ME2.
With the exception of absence of armor mods, personally I´ve found the extent and merit of the game´s customization options quite appropriate for an action RPG shooter, so in my book it´s a case where evidence speaks for itself positively.

If DA3 team hits a similar level of appropriateness for the game, I´d be satisfied in this regard. Obviously, unless there´s a major (sub)genre shift, I certainly would not consider level of ME3´s customization options to be appropriate for DA series.

Personally I don´t have any reason to be excited about DA3 yet.

I never played DA2, but I enjoyed 1 for a little while. I got tired eventually of all the party banter and would prefer to roll all companions myself. I prefer FNV's method of companions mostly being silent except for occasional comments, or if you're progressing on their quest. I guess better writing could offset this, but I really only liked Leilana of all the DA companions. Okay, and the dog.

I never played any of the Mass Effect games and missed Bioshock too, though I don't think those are Bioware. Am I missing anything? Again, not into the party banter stuff, so was the above a great exploration, item gathering, skill manipulation type of game?

Originally Posted by crpgnut
I never played any of the Mass Effect games and missed Bioshock too, though I don't think those are Bioware. Am I missing anything? Again, not into the party banter stuff, so was the above a great exploration, item gathering, skill manipulation type of game?

Something tells me that you probably wouldn't like the ME series very much. Personally, I really enjoyed ME1, but I didn't care much for ME2. Still waiting awhile before I play ME3.

Bioshock was developed by Irational Games and is more of a shooter with light RPG elements. It's very good if you like that type of game.

I liked Dragon Age: Origins, but like many other games I just never finished it. I enjoyed what I played of it though. Never played the 2nd game. I'm interested in the 3rd game simply because I believe they stated they were going to incorporate some Skyrim-style elements into the game. Whether or not that happens will remain to be seen, but if they have opened up the world a little bit, with a little more emphasis on exploration, it could be a game I'd like to play.