Dragon Age 4 - Return of the Grey Wardens

I will continue to mock all Dragon age games not named origins, yet that one I'll continue to play forever. It's such an excellent game, and a tribute as to just how glorious the series could have been, yet was not.

Originally Posted by Carnifex
I will continue to mock all Dragon age games not named origins, yet that one I'll continue to play forever. It's such an excellent game, and a tribute as to just how glorious the series could have been, yet was not.

Just call it BioWare Pre-EA and when the doctors still controlled the company. Since after the acquisition/merger by EA and the doctors left the studio, the quality shifted.

I like all 3 of DA 1-3 - they are all good IMO, just different, which is probably also good, otherwise the complainers would be complaining that all 3 were copies of each other.

I'm just hoping for more of the same - more "DA-ness" (single player RPG without idiotic complications like forced online, Origin or w/e it is now required, co-op, game as service, Paradox DLC onslaught). Really no clue what to expect from some big games these days other than it's probably going to suck in some annoying way, most likely that has nothing to do with the actual game itself.

I'd be fine with any and all big RPGs ditching the entire romance thing. Call mommy for a hug or watch some porn - romancing pixels is too far beyond sad.

@Voqar agree with every point you made above. Though romance is probably here to stay though as most of the BioWare fans expect it in every game. It' even in BG III.

The online part has actually been dropped due to the backlash with Anthem's failure.

Link - https://www.extremetech.com/gaming/3…ry-multiplayer

DA4 entered development in 2015 but was rebooted in 2017 to focus on long-term monetization, Schreier writes. This was the catalyst for Mike Laidlaw’s departure from the game, and development has reportedly been in flux ever since. A group of BioWare leaders has been fighting with EA to turn the focus back to single-player development and the game’s success is vital after both Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem both critically flopped.

DA4 was also finished a few years back but development was scrapped & rebooted for those online aspects that are now being pulled from newer games. Talk about idiotic.

Link - https://www.dualshockers.com/dragon-…ment-rebooted/

That era of BioWare was "woke" before "woke" was even really a thing. It's even a little quaint in light of where we are now. I generally am a little more lenient for it because of that, I view it as part of the product I'd be buying into. Grandfathered in, if you will. It's not Duke Nukem suddenly using proper pronouns we're talking about here.

First Dragon Age is the best of the three, in my opinion, as it was given the most time to bake. The reviled sequel isn't actually *that* bad if you imagine it as Dragon Age: The Hawke Chronicles and think of Inquisition as the real sequel.

Inquisition seems like a good story game buried under a slog of side content. I actually just tried getting through it again, really do want to finish it one of these days.

I don't really care about any perceived wokeness or whether or not their games have a multiplayer component. I don't think either of those things are the problem. The problem is that their games just haven't been very good (Imo) for a long time.

I never understood the outrage from some people over ME3 and ME:A having a multiplayer component or DA:I having co-op. There's nothing that makes me think the single-player would somehow have been better if the multiplayer wasn't there.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I never understood the outrage from some people over ME3 and ME:A having a multiplayer component or DA:I having co-op. There's nothing that makes me think the single-player would somehow have been better if the multiplayer wasn't there.

I have seen the opposite, too. People constantly asking for an MP mode for the Drakensang games, for example.

I remember years ago there was an employee of Bioware who suggested that their games should include a story mode where all or most of the combat is removed and you just get to make the narrative choices & possibly do the noncombat portions of quests.

As one might expect, there was lots of outrage, and IIRC she got death threats etc for daring to suggest an optional story mode.

But I would personally love it if Dragon Age games let me bypass the combat. I liked DA: O story but the combat was extremely tedious and there was so many darkspawn… And DA2 made combat even worse to the point where I've had no interest in getting DA:I.

Of course it'd also be great if it had a combat system I enjoyed but considering their tendency to make their games increasingly action / console style I don't have any hope of that. Maybe the story could be decent… IDK, but I won't suffer through hours of bland tedious gameplay for even the best of stories.

Originally Posted by Shagnak
Whenever someone says "boomer" I just think of one of those exploding zombie types that are in every zombie horde game ever.
I think I'm gen X. Apparently there's a gen Z? What happened to Y? Who comes up with these names?

Gen Y exists, but is usually called Millenials instead.

Originally Posted by JDR13
I didn't play much of Inquisition either. It didn't take me long to see it was packed full of generic filler quests in the same way as ME: Andromeda. At least I found the combat in ME:A fun though. I can't say the same about DA:I.

DA:I's OK if you can ignore the filler quests. Might even be a better storyline than the original once you've got all the DLC. It's a way better game than ME:A and also, its filler is nowhere near as bad as ME:A's, although it may not look that way at the very start of DA:I.

Wow….I never thought of the Origins combat as boring. Honestly, it's some of the most enjoyable combat I've ever played in a video game.

IF somehow they can skip the console crap the likes of camera and controls maybe fined a proper way to make a party RpG without MMO stuffings like DA 3 maps with markers and shameful sidequests hubs - exploration full of grindy, hp spongy respawning enemies.
OW lets not forget the disaster of max 8 skill slots that single handedly murdered DA 3 if somehow anyone could stomach the MMo crap they were stuffing you with.

Well, maybe they can at the same time write a simple advatures story that translates well into fellowship, sure IF they can do that it's gonna be a good one… But looking at it now after DA 2 swooping enemies from the sky jeez and what now days people think of as a good rpg. After all i just wached a trailer with a squirrel that used a toilet brush as a sword?!?! yeah it's a big IF.

Can you not disable those options in a menu of some sort? Like being able to see quest objectives and such? I detest when those things are in a game, it completely destroys the exploration factor, right after disabling audio and enabling subtitles I knock those away as well, if the option is present.

Originally Posted by Stingray
DA:I's OK if you can ignore the filler quests. Might even be a better storyline than the original once you've got all the DLC. It's a way better game than ME:A and also, its filler is nowhere near as bad as ME:A's, although it may not look that way at the very start of DA:I.

I'll probably give it another try someday. I only played through part of the Hinterlands, but it didn't grab me at all.

That means I'll probably have to try to get through DA2 too which I'm not looking forward to.

Originally Posted by JDR13
That means I'll probably have to try to get through DA2 too which I'm not looking forward to.

I don't believe that there is any reason to play DA2 before DA:I. I never played it and didn't feel like missing any story needed for DA:I.

That's quite interesting, as the entire plot in DA: I is a direct consequence of DA2, such as Templar vs Mage and the origin of Corypheus. Also, characters like Varric are from DA2.

Since I had already played DA2 when I played DA: I, I never really paid attention to whether or not the intro exposition covered all of it, but I guess it might cover enough.

Good lord people, I've no idea what the most recent game is like but surely no one is near desperate enough to try and play Dragon age the second. Honestly, fire up pong, tetris or asteroids first, you'll thank me later.

Never too soon

Originally Posted by Maylander
That's quite interesting, as the entire plot in DA: I is a direct consequence of DA2, such as Templar vs Mage and the origin of Corypheus. Also, characters like Varric are from DA2.

The entire series is Templars vs Mages. He'll figure out who Varric is easily enough.

I agree with bkreuger that there's no particular reason to play DA2 first, especially if you're dreading it.

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
The entire series is Templars vs Mages. He'll figure out who Varric is easily enough.

I agree with bkreuger that there's no particular reason to play DA2 first, especially if you're dreading it.

I played enough of DA2 to remember Cassandra and Varric. That's one of the reasons I felt like maybe I was missing something by not finishing it… since both of them are introduced immediately in DA:I and made obvious that they're major characters.

Originally Posted by JFarrell71
The entire series is Templars vs Mages. He'll figure out who Varric is easily enough.

I agree with bkreuger that there's no particular reason to play DA2 first, especially if you're dreading it.