My main concern is with the writing. This simply isn’t the same BioWare that everyone loved. I’m not saying their current writing staff are bad, just that they aren’t the team that made the world feel special. Also the amount of BioWare staff leaving during the production of this game is really concerning.
The current writing staff on dreadwolf wrote some of the best parts of the earlier Dragon Age and Mass Effect games. The lead writer wrote Solas and the Tresspasser DLC, another key writer wrote Tevinter Nights the book and the list goes on. I'm not worried at all.
It’s a good sign that they’ve confirmed there will be no multiplayer - hopefully this is the studio and distributor realizing that we want a core RPG with a more classic feel.
As someone who just generally dislikes multiplayer games as a whole, I’m very hopeful with it being a solo world. Let me build my own story in my own world.
That was a big win for all parties. It means Bioware will be focusing entirely on the story and the world we all love. And we will get to see the fruits of their labor. Multiplayer shouldn't exist in Dragon Age. It's not in it's DNA. We can thank the failure of Anthem and huge success of SW Fallen Order for that decision. It might've saved Dreadwolf. But I intend to hold my judgement till I play it.
The problem is they also said DAI was going to gave more tactical combat and ba "a game by pc players for oc players". I have hard time trusting anything they say. Oh well. Hopefully no multiplayer means the classes won't all feel the same like they did in DAI.
I heard in reality it's not bioware who decided so, but EA. EA made them work on dragon age 4 years ago as a multiplayer game, but once they failed at anthem they decided to stop the production of DA4 and make them go the solo route. On the one hand i'm pleased about that decision because DA for me is a solo rpg experience, on the other it means EA still takes decisions in making games by their studios and their reputation as the studio slayer is not good. I also loved DAI's multiplayer coop as it was a change in multiplayer games and a concept i think was amazing as a beta. I hope they make one day an other game of that style because coop PVE in a dragon age universe is just so fun. I also hope we get to go in tevinter still, as the previous DA4 project was going to be, but as long as we get a good dragon age i'm all fine with their decisions. And it being solo can only make it better ^^ Hoepfully EA stays out of it and bioware focus on the game through past issues they've had in the production and can deliver a great DA like origins and inquisition were \[T]/
My main concern is that even if the game is a big redemption for Bioware after the humiliating financial disasters of Anthem and Andromeda and fans love it. EA is still gonna kill the company unless the game is a massive success that exceeds EA's probably unrealistic sales expectations
The Bioware you're thinking of is long gone. Like, the original three who helped create the games that defined western rpgs for a decade aren't there. Nor is any of the talent who actually did the minute work to realize those ambitions. Bioware isn't Bioware. its EA Edmonton wearing Bioware like a skinsuit.
People ALWAYS keep saying how EA is going to kill Bioware. But realistically speaking, the time to do that would have been after Anthem's launch. If they didn't do it then, they are not going to do it after the studio launched a new title in their top selling franchise.
@@razztamara3306 honestly good point I'm surprised Bioware survived Anthem's launch. Still if Dreadwolf comes out unfinished and broken on launch like andromeda and anthem I can't see the Bioware recovering from 3 big AAA failures in a row like that but I'm really hoping Dreadwolf will come together by the end whenever it comes out
@@razztamara3306 we don't know what their contract looked like. Might have had a number of games already contracted. And DA4 has been in production as long as Anthem
Party banter and personal quests are still some of my favourite parts of DAI, I hope they find a way to make them more meaningful and better integrated to the main story of DAD.
There was party banter in inquisition? I think I heard it once over all my play time, and I couldn't be sure that wasn't cut dialogue bugging it's way back into the game, what with it being the only time it happened.
@@theseventhify Yeah, but it just never triggered at the right moments, you probably skipped most of it by jumping on a horse, starting a fight, fast traveling, etc.
@@Kserijaro It has issues, but it's quite good anyway. In my opinion anyway, it's not a masterpiece, but neither were the two first of the series. Origins has a lot of issues too, I just played the whole series recently, they all had great and terrible elements. I found Origins combat bad honestly, especially given how much fighting there is. And the Orzamar part is so boring too.
@@MichaelDavis-mk4me Origins is one of the best games in the genre and fighting is amazing too. You are probably playing it wrong or didn't play enough similar games.
inquisition was a big and gorgeous game yet felt completely empty due to how generic most of the side quests were, generic fetch quests of "inquisitor, can you find [item/person] for me?" that you only did out of the motivation of xp and gold. i want more thought out side quests, like the ones from origins where they were related to the worldbuilding and you were involved to see how they would end. oh and also prettier hairs, or better mod support lol
Meaningful side quests that have an impact depending on the choices you make. Like when you find that girl's kid brother in Redcliffe, and if you give her the maximum amount for their family sword (if you persuade the boy to give you the key), she becomes a successful business woman and eventually marries Bann Teagan.
@@rebellyanmagic6409 Smaller scale, but deeper choices. That's bigger, but in a better way. There is actually more to do in Dragon Age Origins than Inquisition.
I'm cautiously optimistic, but realistically they've really fractured their fan base for the franchise. I think it'll be about impossible to thread the needle on DAD in a way that would make everyone happy. So I hope they pick a direction and stick with it. What little info we have gotten has looked promising at least though.
We can only be hopeful, but reality sadly likes to get in the way. LegacyKillaHD did a video in March of 2021 about 150+ people that left Bioware since 2015. That, combined with Anthem, Andromeda, DA's very long silence, Joplin being cancelled by EA... ( ua-cam.com/video/U0Arbrqq_zM/v-deo.html - Link to the video) It doesn't spell anything good so far, but hey, that only means they can turn it all around for the better
Everytime I get optimistic, I return to EA quotes and ideas. Reminds me that DA4 is a game in the hands of these bloodthirsty vampires kills that enthusiasm.
I would like to see more choices and consequences depending on what race you play. In Inquisition your race didnt really matter besides small insignificant changes (losing approval of court if you are non-human or random dialog option), so i would like to see being treated by companions and other npcs differently if i play a dwarf, elf or qunari. Make some ingame option availabe only if you are certain race - for example you have to choose between siding with human village or dalish clan and ONLY ELF character can make a choice to try negotiate with both and come to a compromise instead of choosing a side. Have some companions treat and speak to you differently if you are different race as them or more friendly and casually if you are both the same. Like a dwarf companion will drink and laugh with you if you are a dwarf or try to appear more stoic and tough if you are not. Perhaps have a qunari companion who follows the Qun and if you are like them and follow a Qun and its teachings as well, they will respect you, otherwise they would consider you Tal-Vatosh and treat you with disgust.
@@Inquisitor_Askeladd It almost makes me worried that we won't have a choice of race in DA4 because its set in Tevinter. Nearly all elves are enslaved there and the few who aren't have risen through the ranks to become low level magisters under the service and greater Tevinter magisters, Tevinter is in active war with the Qunari over Seheron so I doubt they can even show their faces on the mainland, etc. The devs will likely try to let us pick from all races because fans riot otherwise, but it's hard to imagine how it will work out narratively. DA2 didn't let us pick our protag's race and DAI originally wasn't going to let you play Dwarves or Qunari but they changed it last minute due to fan outcry.
@@SaVanityVan It wouldn't be that hard to make Qunari work, Although they are hated it's not like people will just attack them on sight. Considering Tevinter and the Qunari has been fighting for centuries there is probably a sizeable Vashoth/Tal Vashoth population in Tevinter, there is also probably Qunari slaves as well... so a slave origin could also work with Qunari.
I'm curious to see if we'll get a big announcement or update when the Dragon Age Netflix show comes out in December. Also I love how you showed a pic of Solas when you said "negating hairstyles" 😂
Here's the main reason we're concerned: Apparently most of the talented people have left BioWare, and the people left in charge are more concerned with politics than writing good stories, characters, and making a good game. They haven't made a good game since ME3, and even that one was sliding away from the glory of ME2 and DA:O. DA:I was okay as it took a different direction, but certainly not BioWare's old standard. MEA was released in a terrible state, and Anthem was about 1/4 of a game. Nobody should have high hopes for this studio anymore.
To your point, I’ve barely seen any marketing for the game. The marketing i have seen revolved around Dragon Age Day and BioWare choosing the Trans Empowerment Project as its Dragon Age Day charity. TEP is dedicated to fighting “white supremacy” and giving power to disabled trans people of color. I’m not here to say whether that’s good or bad but it does show their priorities and that they are willing to already alienate a large number of fans that don’t feel the same way about those very specific issues.
Love the entire series but, sadly, Bioware is attached to a the worst of the worst, EA. Fingers crossed they can overcome and deliver this time around. Btw, love the vids! Great perspective, please keep 'em comin'!
Anthem was mostly BioWare management’s fault. EA gave them funding for 7 years and left them to it, the report on the development woes of anthem place the blame on BioWares horrifically inefficient management, studio politics and trouble with frostbite.
Agreed, I would never say Bioware was without fault when they've come up short. Thier name on the product, they wear it. The famed "Bioware magic" is a flawed system. But, EA does them no favors. They've long been an example of truly caustic management of acquired studios. Thier influence on Bio is no different. As I think Bioware's performance since acquisition has clearly shown.
There's also the fact that the amazing people who gave us Origins and Mass Effect are no longer with BioWare - there's been a noticeable decline in quality from BioWare since they left
EA is bad, but people are too quick to blame them alone. I saw it with Respawn as well. Many times they fuck up, yet people will blame EA. Bioware has lost its soul too. It isn't just EA.
They bought BioWare during a different time. In 2008 micro transactions almost didn’t exist, lootboxes didn’t exist, and games as a service didn’t exist. Pretty much the only monetization multiplayer games had was map packs and single player games had expansions. That was it. This was during an era where if a game got paid dlc on day 1, people got mad because it was clearly ready and the publisher could have put it in the game instead of charging for it. It simply was a different time
The lack of marketing for a game that Bioware needs to sell tells me that it's going to be delayed. There is clearly an issue at Bioware though where the studio has lost it's identity, which in large part is probably due to Anthem taking them away from making single-player RPGS driven by player choice. I hope in the making of DAD they have brought in people that can help recreate that lost identity.
What I expect to see - at least for the first part of the game - is a return to DA:O style Origins for the class you pick. This game is being set in a part of Thedas we've never seen, whose culture is at times the antithesis to what we've seen. Instead of throwing us headfirst into the action, let us have thr chance to really absorb this new world before the game begins. Like for example, picking a Mage class in this would be similar to playing the Human Warrior/Rogue in DA:O, since Mages in Tevinter are high up on the ladder. You'd get to see what a Tevinter Circle looks like, you'd get a lot of political intrigue you'd expect from a decadent noble class etc. The story could be you're the first Mage born to your family, and so it's like both player and PC are experiencing this new society together.
I LOVED how they did class/race starts in DAO. Not only was it a great introduction to the world that felt more personal to the character you made, it also made it so much more powerful when you ran into those characters & consequences later on. DA2 had reduced scope so it made sense not to have it there, but I really felt the absence of it in DAI.
@@ceridwenaeradwr8105 Yes, exactly. Outside of a few dialogue options, certain romances and your initial social standing at the start of the Winter Palace quest, the Inquisitor feels like Generic McHero most of the time. I would like a return to that personal connection to your chosen hero in DA4. Seeing how they exist in their corner of the Imperium and carrying that throughout the game. Eg a Mage Hero will obviously have a different experience to an Elf Hero. Heck, we might get a chance to play a Dwarven merchant or Ambassadoria, see how much influence they have in a society that relies on lyrium.
My main concerns: Can Bioware keep their focus throughout the development process and will EA be able to resist meddling. I guess the two are somewhat linked as was seen in Anthem.
Anthem's problem wasn't EA though. EA did its best to actually force them to *make a fucking game* after so long, which is a reasonable thing considering the decade they spent in what amounted to pre-production. Yes, EA is bad and destroys its subsidiary developers, but in this one instance, Bioware did it to themselves.
“Single player games just don’t provide enough profit” …. Meanwhile Skyrim 25th anniversary edition about to be released in 3 days followed up by the 26th anniversary in a month
Skyrim makes pennies vs what live service games make. And live service games make pennies vs what mobile gacha games make. This is the reality of the industry. For perspective, Genshin Inpact makes roughly $400 million EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. It has already made over a billion dollars and isn’t slowing down
I’m a long time BioWare fan, and Dragon Age is my favorite. I’ve been following this quite closely, and from what I understand they have had to actually restart and overhaul production twice. Joplin being the first, and I don’t know if they changed the name of Morrison before they made an official title, but Morrison was going to be live service. One developer even claimed it would be “Anthem, but with dragons.” Something everyone collectively shuddered at the sound of. They have since said that they have removed all live service elements claiming that they are going to go back to what made BioWare successful: phenomenally written single-player stories. But with that, many have wondered just how much they had to remove from Morrison and redo. I assume a lot has had to be overhauled, and honestly I have to imagine that they aren’t posting a lot of updates and announcements because they probably don’t have anything meaningful to show yet. As a long time fan of Dragon Age, I am really hoping they can pull of a miracle akin to Andraste’s Ashes healing Arl Eamon. Truly a great job on the video, and I hope everyone the the comments has a blessed day. :)
I think the mistake the devs made with Inquisition was they said to much before the release. We were lead to belive our choices would have more impact and the world would be more interactive and dynamic with a few battles even. So maybe now they are deciding to play their cards more tightly to their chest to prevent any let downs on things that might end up cut due to time and budget issues. Plus the pandemic really put production on a crawl on every industry. Personally I belive EA is dumb to think they can't montize and make more money off of single player games. I would have happily paid hundreds of dollars for more armor, weapons and deore items and dlcs aventures in Inqusition hell I'd be more than happy to rebuy the older games of the series if they so choose to remaster them. The voice acting, story and such are all done but the licensing might be a pain. Still I hope to see remastered version someday or some things added that were dropped due to deadlines in the past. Dragon Age only had 9 months to get made. It deserves far more.
As someone who didn't pay attention to it up to release (as I do with most games, got burnt on hype trains enough times) the problems were glaring in the game itself. It felt like a single player MMO with all the attendant fetch quests and grind 20 bear backsides quests, not the tighter single player experience you want with a RPG. Not to mention the real-time gatekeeping at the mission table that just made no sense whatsoever and made it felt even more like a single player MMO. The story was good but the padding around it was just ridiculous. As for EA, yeah I don't get their hate towards single player games either. That's what happens when bean counters take over though. Also I think you mean DA2 in your second last sentence, yeah that was just stupid, and it really made the game suffer. And that's as someone who actually kinda liked DA2, even though the same handful of dungeons just slightly mixed up was a real killjoy.
@@captainmurphy4948 lol yeah I meant DA2 ^_^ I swear my keyboard some of the time doesn't pick up all my finger strokes. I've seen a few videos discussing how most MMOs are now shifting more and more to solo play content. But honestly, I'm still not a huge fan of MMOs because 95 percent or less of the quests and story archs lack any depth. I've played ESO on and off since beta but it's getting too expensive and the stories are honestly not compelling. They're paying too much attention on cosmetics and not enough on writing talent. They are also dropping the ball on what makes a good MMO and that's the PvP areas. I help an NPC in ESO and will never see them again and they have the personality of a cardboard cutout. It all makes any quest feel more like a chore than helping the game's world a better place and making a connection with a character. Plus MMOs you feel like just another shlub in a sea of shlubs all wrapped up in pissing contests. Players running around in neon orange armor like chickens with their heads cut off and trying to get me to dual breaks immersion for me than it fills the enviroment with "more life." If you're looking for a deep solo RPG to pass the time until DA4 aka DAD (lol) I highly recommend Baldur's Gate 3. If you love DAO seriously you'll love BG3. Even in early beta release it's... *chief's kiss* So many feels. Move over Solas and hello Astarion. It's on patch 8 now but 9 will be dropping hopefully in a month or so. It's a pricy game but worth every penny. Since patch eight I've put in close to 600 hours and that's when we can only play the first chapter.
EA knows what they are doing. Any single player game is going to have mods that fill those gaps for free. If any recurring revenue comes from single player games it's going to be from new content like DLCs or sales for merchandise.
While I understand alot of these worries, I don't think that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will necessarily fail monetarily. As of 2015, Dragon Age: Inquisition became the most "successful game" in purely units sold - So there's no doubt that EA made their money back and then some. What this means however - Is that people should expect more of what DAI provided since Dreadwolf has been built on the groundwork made in DAI. When it comes to EA & monetization, there'll probably be some ingame shop for cosmetics or something akin to that since it's proven to be a successful practice before. As others have pointed out, I do agree that writing is the singular most important thing to get right. Dreadwolf simply needs a well-structured narrative, great dialogue & a memorable cast of characters - anything less than that and I'll worry for real. Keep up the good work Saria!
Realistically DA4 is probably the last chance for Bioware to get something right. With ME4 being much earlier in development, my biggest fear is them failing again and being dissolved by EA. Can only hope that the lack of info means they are hard at work and that we will see something significant from them this winter. With so many of my favourite game studios submitting to corporate mediocrity or wasting away into insignificance I don't really know how I'm going to handle it if Bioware goes the same way. Bioware stands at the epicentre of everything I love in gaming.
Bioware is not the same company you fell in love with, There is only a handful of people at Bioware left who worked on Dragon Age Origins. They all left as they saw the writing on the wall that Bioware is not long for this world.
@@adeptdamage3669 If Dragon Age is a flop, Bioware will be disbanded make no mistake. It will be the 3rd IP in a row to flop, Mass Effect Flopped, Anthem Flopped.
The Dragon Age Series is part of my life since I was sixteen (2009) when DAO was released (December 2009) my stepfather bought it for me as a early birthday present. I am so grateful that he did despite me being too young to legally play it back in 2009. I am forever grateful maybe I wouldn't even bought it years later it was the perfect time perfect place. Needless to say DAO is my favourite game of all time and I would be more than just sad If DAD would be a mess of a game... I am concerned and I wish to be wrong, I hope my doubts about DAD are misplaced. I just hope all of us will fall in love with DAD I hope it'll be better than Inquisition or at least on the same level.
@@GreyWardenArlethaVakarian i'm not surprised some games use to never be able to get sold in australia until the R rating was brought in for games. the witcher 3 would have been one of those banned games, witcher 2 almost was. sometimes i wonder if the people doing the rating even understand what their doing since they can get the ratings so very wrong sometimes.
I want your specialisation to be chosen from the start and make it actually a part of your character I don’t want it to just be some extra abilities It was nice that DAI did have companions mention it but if I’m a Templar, I want to be an actual Templar, I want my specialisations to mean something
Or it will be nice to really join some group . get armor , abilities,Special interactions , reputation . Some side quest . Not just earn materials craft weapon and do some table mission for group u r associated with now . Maybe get some special training that unlocks whole tree ability by ability . Be able to get promotion in organisation
@@sinisterwitch9230 yeah I always felt cheap playing a warrior with the Templar specialisation, or a rogue with the bard or assassin Because it felt like I was pretending to be one, at least Inquisition let a warrior who chose Templar actually have a Lyrium addiction, I know you never see your character take Lyrium but it’s implied you do In origins and DA2 it felt more like you were just pretending to be one It felt hallow and fake
@@dylanmackie8299 or when you play as mage specialists brought by inquisition doesnt teach you anything i wish we could ask questions that will expand lore . For example knight- enchanters - is this sword like fade magic ? You create barier by atacking is that sort of bllodmagic ? Will that lure demons? Can i shape my weapon other way than just sword ? Who rules enchanters? ok you are capitan what hierarchy is there ? Or necromancer tells us nothing about magic how it works etc ultimatum spell is time manipulation !!! Like wtf ? It suits dorian because of lore and his work with alexius but why i use some time manipulation i wanna control death its darkest magic school since they dont guve us blood magic and i am so dissapointed . Rift mages - how do u control that magic you need open rift to use it ? What if rifts are closed ? Whats the point of even learning that school ? How will it affect me ? Is it fade magic ? (Same that with enchanters)
Yeah, in DAO you got taught some skills by those companions, so it’s something, but still, it’s cheap DA2 was super cheap, you just magically knew the stuff DAI the fetch quests were annoying, super annoying but at least it felt like you earned it, and for Templar, it’s implied you are actually taking daily lyricism infusions just like real Templars But even then, your not a Templar, just a guy taking the potion and using the abilities, you were never a part of the order I want to play an actual Templar, someone who guarded a circle tower, or protected a chantry I want to play an actual assassin, someone who took lives for coin An actual bard, who travelled Orlais plying my trade for coin
The only thing that doesn’t concern me about Frostbite is that I would assume they’re probably more comfortable with the engine now that they’ve already built a lot of those things during Inquisition’s development (i.e. save-games and tactical camera). My hope is that over the last freaking decade or so that they’ve been working with Frostbite means that those struggles they had won’t be nearly as much of an issue. My concerns really manifest in their ability to tell a compelling story that doesn’t retcon the past games more than they already have. I crave complicated and intriguing characters like Morrigan, Zevran, Isabela, Fenris, Iron Bull, and Dorian. I hope we see more gut-wrenching moments like the Broodmother and the creation of new darkspawn, Hawke’s mother’s death, and destruction of the Chantry in Kirkwall. I love characters and stories that invest us in the world and help us as players understand that the stakes are high and devastating things can and will happen, and we can see the direct ramifications of those events. I worry that DA has become so watered down that we’ll end up with nothing more than a bland, monotone bastardization of the games and the world we love so much.
I think the big thing that will save Bioware is if they took all the things we loved about Origins, DA2 and DAI and put them all in Dreadwolf and gave us almost limitless options in every aspect of the game. If it's just another rebranded Inquisition. It will be a huge let down. I personally don't want a ton of fetch quests. I prefer games that have story side quests. Not chores. Oh and they better have brought back Blood Magic for Mages. We are going to be in Tevinter after all.
EA argument against Singleplayer games is just a dull whine that when filtered through an audio processing device comes out to a toddler crying "but we wont more money for less creativity" they won't be able to monetize DA just like they failed to monetize StarWars Battlefront, even the FIFA fan base that was notorious for buying into the lootbox's is waking up to just how cheap this all is.
EA sticking their noses and imposing changes and ideas, uncertainty about Bioware having a close knit and experienced dev team for the scale of the project and lastly Frostbite, are for me the biggest reasons for concern.
I really hate how they retconned Loghain in DAi removing all the complexity of the character. "I feel bad for what I've done" removes all the layers of his choice. Yes, he feels bad for killing innocent soldiers, but he doesn't regret killing the king because it was the only way he could prevent engagement of Orlesian wardens.
My guess is Joplin was cancelled for being too RPG focused (I.E. not enough ways to monetize players) I'm certain whatever DA4 is upon release, it'll be closer to some sort of Action-Adventure. It will still probably be Single player, but it will be clear the focus was made more on monetization than telling a great story with interesting characters, plot, and immersion. This is EA at the end of the day, and the Bioware we grew up with and loved, died the day EA bought them.
Honestly I think inquisition is my least favorite of the series. And I think a large part of that was the disconnect I felt with the story and characters. Idk the larger than life thing is cool and all and it was fun to recruit so many ppl and see how big I could make the inquisition. But at the same time I just felt so….bland? Everyone felt more like they were begrudgingly there, like sure you could get along but it was more in a coworker way than an actual companion/friend way like it was in the past 2 games. I think more than anything I really really want that feel of companions feeling like an actual party again as opposed to a group of ppl you hired who only tolerate each other (and possibly you) I know it’s objectively the worst but having a sort of “chaotic friend group“ like in da2 again would be so so nice. And also finally giving the dalish their welsh accents. Pls let me play a dalish with their proper accent
I agreed wholeheartedly with the points given on this video; only adding of my personal opinion that my biggest concerns come from A. Most if not all of the original DA leads and acting team leads have left and/or been moved to another studio. B. The budget for DA:D has been not only change in the past pre-production, but also reduced. Origins is my favorite game of all time and I'll always be a fan at heart. But this might be the first Bioware installment in which I'll wait months after it's released to see how the market reacts to it
And for bug fixes to be hashed out. I try not to get hyped for games. That way I can by the anniversary edition with all/most bugs fixed, and all dlc included.
I hope that Dreadwolf slims a bit down with it's map sizes. Make smaller but more interesting maps. Hinterlands is a slough to get trough and the bears are far too strong, if you don't have fire damage for so early in the game. I once had a fight that took so long, that the next already respawnt. The Forbidden Oasis is a nightmare to navigate trough and lore wise it felt like a let down in the end. The Hissing Wastes were so empty. Dessert may be a nice setting, but not so empty and was. They once announced that the game won't be a live service like they first said, but a true singleplayer game. Yet I fear that it will be one or something like a live service light. The idea behind the wartable to be the leader of the Inquisition was good, but it was just so frustrating. And mostly, I'm not sure if they still have the team to make a game I'm interested. As example I don't think the creative director John Epler is the right person for Dragon Age. He once tweeted, 'Dragon Age is about hope, about how love and friendship are forces for good and about how, in the end, what we have is each other.' (It is from 2018, so thing can changed) And I think that is too one sided. Remember what an horrible person you could be in Origins? The city elf origin, where you could sell your cousin off for a night to a noble. Morrigan who asked you to kill her mother and the blackmail in the end. Have a baby, you are not allowed to see or you will die and I'm out of here. (The contrast between that and the love route for Morrigan + Witch Hunt is one of my favorite story from the franchise.) Dragon Age 2 was softer and Inquisition a softer then 2. I really loved how good, evil and grey the world was. It highlighted each element further. Even trough I could never be evil or mean. (Like really, how could you be mean to Alistair? Yes, he had to grow up a bit, but don't be mean D:). I already had a lot of problems with Andromedas writing, because it become a bit too 'political correct' and simply had many flaws. (With that I don't mean that I have a problem with Krem, who I think was a good side character or Suvi, gosh she is so cute. [But I would have liked it more if she would tell male Ryder that she is simply not interested in men in general] I mean that it was too soft. No possibility to be a bit Xenophobe in the beginning with the Angara after the meeting with the Krett or have any kind of conflict, besides the splinter group. It never truly felt like a first contact with a new species.) The conflict with the Outcasts was weak, because to be honest we did not see a lot of conflict. Also there was the biggest writing mistake I personally have ever seen. In one point of the Collective quest line on Kadara, Ryder tells out loud who the Charlatan is, in a god damn public bar! I know in the greater picture that is not a huge thing, but I absolutely hate it even till today, argh!
The first time I played DAI, I quit because I wanted to get through Hinterlands content before tackling the main story and I just could not. The only map I hate more is the Hissing Wastes, because at least Hinterlands is pretty to look at.
I dont know how to feel except that I hope EA stays the hell away from the production team - though I fundamentally understand we're well past that point
There's one single person that makes me optimistic for Dreadwolf and that's Patrick Weekes as lead writer. He was the lead writer for Trespasser, which I think was hands down one of the best DLCs in all of the dragon age games. And he also wrote Solas.
I personally LOVE everything about Inquisition - not even part of that toxic hype or whatever. Never even heard of that until reading some comments. Honestly my only let down to the game - was maybe those "fantastic lizard mounts" - and the war table. I hate the whole "real time" thing. But everything else?? I've never been so lore invested in any of the dragon age games until Inquisition because it made me feel like i was *there*. Like in the Dales, you go and find a tent behind some rocks- some blood - and an abandoned teddy bear. You read the paper there and learn a family had been hiding trying to escape the civil war... and as the writing is run off the page with blood spatter you dont NEED anything else to know what really happened. Its the small things like this that I've personally experienced in Inquisition that really makes the game alive for me. I cry more for characters i'll never meet, never see or experience - because of the fact they're already gone, or have suffered and are elsewhere now. I agree that the maps are huge and it can be annoying to run to one end of the map to the other- like those blasted skull shards - i hate those too lmao. But because of those skull shards- I've found so many secrets like that one codex up above. Or the man in the cave in the hinterlands, arrows leading to a hole in the rock wall- a skeleton - and a man's last words asking for them to be delivered to his family. It's the little things like that - that to me, - makes the BLOOD of Inquisition pump through the game. Yes the main story was a bit short, that was the sad part. But Im not here to be like--- in Skyrim where everything is a main story line and you end up top dog of everything. Im here to be the Inquisitor - to seal the breach - find those responsible - and end this chaos. And in the main story line - you do exactly that. All those long and endearing side quests? That's the Inquisitor's JOB. I am looking forward excitedly to Dread Wolf and the only thing I think should be an improvement would be ---- give the mounts better bodies and animations?? lmao. That's all I got. I even loved the multiplayer because it gave me the feeling of those rpg games I used to play growing up - no story needed, just level up a character and get on that grind son! but with friends and all dragon age themed. Anyway, those be my 2 cents to add to the matter.
I am on the desperately optimistic side, I want the game to succeed, I want it to have an incredible end and I dread (eh!) the idea that this last chance could be a failure. Honestly the course Bioware is taking reminds me of Origin (the developers behind the Ultima series, a staple in rpg for pcs as far as I know, I urge all of you to inform about their downfall and see the resemblance) and I shiver, thinking this could be another Ultima 9. On a side note, I hope they return to a more dark-fantasy oriented style of world building and storytelling like back in DA:O; DA:I felt more like epic fantasy, never have I felt like they did or would dare to punch me in the gut and make me uncomfortable (like Zaithran backstory or the discovery of Broodmothers, although both done mostly verbally).
I am not all that worried about the Frostbite engine being an enormous issue this time around since they have most models done since Inquisition. As for the lack of updates I still hope they will release a trailer in november or right before christmas. It would fit timewise since the game is slated for release late next year no? And finally I also think they need to simply make smaller quests better. Both Inquisition and Andromeda were horribly plagued by these quests and only the main story had any draw for many I imagine!
I pray they are on schedule and all is well. I would hope after eight long years. And possibly a few years of active development that they have a game at this point and we can look forward to Fall 2023 for the release.
I'm worried that is gonna be another Cyberpunk all over again. That they haven't done any actual work on the game and only focused on marketing the game.
Dragon Age as a franchise may actually be doomed due to 2 big issues: 1- Both its creators (Mike Laidlaw & David Gaider), the mom and dad of Thedas, are long gone. 2- DA: Inquisition came out almost a decade ago. The franchise lost all mommentum. At this point, I just want to know for sure what is inside the Black City, where does The Taint come from, and who/what is behind The Calling.
I actually think the release of tiny updates is meant to make us think they are behind/on schedule, when in fact they are far ahead of schedule. This is to provide their team with plenty of time to make the game and squash as many major bugs as possible before the deadline. They made a commitment to never invoke BioWare Magic again, and this deception might be part of how BioWare is creating more time and space for itself to work. Live-action game? You mean live-service? Yeah, the way EA sees it, even if Dragon Age turns a profit, they still consider that lost revenue through opportunity cost. They would rather have their studios spend their time making low overhead games that make players want to spend money constantly and that exceed the typical $60-$90 an RPG would rake in. EA doesn't care how the fans view the company. They are only in it for the money. Here are my five reasons: 1. Wokeness. Keep real-world politics out of it. Don't try to cater to real-world social groups. And on topics that have parallels to real-world politics, at least give players the CHOICE to agree, disagree, ignore the issue entirely, or have no opinion about it. And most of all, DO NOT alter the established lore to appease real-world minorities. The Qun has always had non-negotiable rules regarding biological sex and the gender roles associated with them. That shouldn't change now just because BioWare wants to cater to an extreme minority of the population or virtue signal to their cohorts. 2. Not including the Hero of Ferelden. Having the Hero sit out during Inquisition made sense. But now the entire world is being threatened. The Hero MUST make a cameo in DA4, or else I won't be buying the game. BioWare cannot continue the story of Dragon Age without at least showing us that our Heroes are still a part of this world. Even a dead Hero should have a tomb/shrine at Weisshaupt dedicated to him or her, and that counts as a cameo appearance. Meanwhile, the Orlesian Warden-Commander fills the dead Hero's role in searching for the cure. And this is where the real cameo comes in. Have the Hero/WC show up at Weisshaupt to help deal with the problems there and share knowledge of the cure for the taint. Then have the Hero/WC leave after that quest to go cure the red lyrium spreading in Ferelden and elsewhere. This gives the Hero both a reason to not be in the rest of the game, and a proper role to play in helping stop Solas indirectly by neutralizing the red lyrium with the cure. 3. New BioWare. It can't be denied that the BioWare that created Origins, 2, and Inquisition no longer exist. Most people in BioWare have been replaced by new people. And even Patrick Weekes, who has been part of the series for a while, has had a dramatic shift in attitude in recent years. So the question is if these new people understand what Dragon Age is all about. The comments from some of them make me doubt that very much. So we might be getting a new Dragon Age that is nothing like the previous games. 4. All about Solas. The teaser has Varric saying this is our story. I hope BioWare sticks to that concept. Dragon Age is supposed to be the story of our protagonists, but BioWare lost sight of that in DA2 when they made the protagonist locked to just a single origin character with no real way for players to influence who Hawke was as a person. Yeah, sex and skin color and class, and even appearance were customizable, but it was always the same origin and even the personality wasn't that customizable. Hawke's choices also didn't seem to matter much aside from affecting the fates of companion characters, most of which were never heard from again. And those who were heard from again end up where they are regardless of Hawke's influence. In other words, Hawke felt like BioWare's character, and I fear they will make the same mistake, only with Solas this time around. Naming the game "Dreadwolf" only cements that fear. This should not be Solas' story. This should be the story of how out new protag thwarts him, or at least mitigates the damage he'll do. 5. Unmet expectations. We have now gone longer without a Dragon Age game than the entire lifespan of the series, from release of Origins to release of Trespasser. Not only is that unacceptable from a gamer standpoint, but it makes us expect more from this game since it has taken so long to make. Add to this the fact that Dragon Age lore has the most potential than any other series out there. Fans have come up with numerous interesting plots and ideas for DA4, and I doubt anything BioWare has come up with with match the ideas of the fanbase. In fact, with the introduction of titans, and now the hidden underground grey liquid experiment chambers, and the ancient monsters, and the evanuris, etc., it just seems like BioWare is loading up the series with big ideas that won't be fully realized in the game. Meanwhile, existing plots will go by the wayside, such as the plot with Urthemiel, or Morrigan, or the cure that the Hero has likely found.
I agree with your observations here but I'd challenge your first point, because DAO included plenty of propaganda (to use the word in its original meaning) to appease certain social groups, but you were probably part of the groups being pandered to which is why you never noticed. I also don't think you can deny that real-world politics already serve as the basis for every existing conflict in the DA universe, so it is absurd to all of a sudden want real-life politics out of the series just because you personally feel offended or bothered in some way. By that logic Bioware should take slavery and servitude out of the story, they should stop making references to feudalism and monarchies, and oppressive systems should be reframed so that they cannot possibly allude to real-world oppression in any way, lest they remind anyone of "real world politics." While we're at it, let's make every character sexless, genderless and asexual to be on the safe side. It's also problematic to speak of wars, armed conflict, and so on... You get my point I'm sure. Without real-life politics and ideologies we obviously don't have much to work with in terms of art, unless you want to make something extremely abstract or transformative. But DA has never been that, it was a fairly generic medieval-fantasy setting if we're being honest, and that format has 1. been done before and 2. inherently borrows real-world political and ideological modes of thinking. I don't think you or anyone else in the fanbase wants some truly "out there" postmodern narrative from this series precisely because the world has been built on these existing real-world concepts, and we know what to expect by now. I try not to assume ill intent here but in my experience the "no real-world politics!!" complaint almost always boils down to "this character has a skin color or sexuality I don't like" which is just a form of petty virtue signalling but in another direction. Similarly, outright *excluding* social groups from a medium is also just another form of "social justice pandering" but in the opposite direction you're used to. If the mere existence of some benign idea, political reference or even just a type of person is enough to upset someone, I don't think they're going to make it far in the real world, and especially if it upsets them because it's included in a *fictional* world. In my view, DAI was a step up when it came to letting the player agree/disagree/defer judgment on choices. As I said earlier, DAO did plenty of catering to sociopolitical ideas but I as a character didn't even have an option to disagree because the ideas were so baked into the narrative that they were barely even questioned. Most forms of sociopolitical propaganda are covert in that way, meaning they're intrinsic parts of characters, locations and narratives instead of outright "choices" that you have an input on. You use the Qun as an example here, which is interesting because their in-game mode of society is pretty overt in real-world political and philosophical references. I'm sure I don't have to go into why a "rigid view of gender roles" is one of the oldest forms of political propaganda and it has always pandered to a minority social group in the real world. In terms of narrative consistency I don't want them to retcon this or any other part of the lore for that matter, but we should be honest and be able to admit that the original conception of Qunari society is already "catering to certain social groups." TL;DR: the Dragon Age series are inherently loaded with sociopolitcial ideas and the reason people seem to notice them in different games at different times is because they are not the ones currently being pandered to.
@@doomed_user76 okay so I would state that DAI had more choices but it had less consequences for those choices, which is my complaint on DAI. I would state that the Qunari are meant to be an alien type of society. They never really pandered to me but I did always want to find out more because of how strange the Qunari were to me, and from what I could tell even in the original game they were stated in a neutral light with their flaws being shown in DA2 which was the only part I liked about the game (knowledge) tbh; tldr What about Qunari society is already "catering to certain social groups."? PS does this make sense
@@doomed_user76 You're arguing that Sten's firm stance on gender roles was propaganda to the audience? Eh, I doubt BioWare was trying to pander to misogynists with that. More likely BioWare was trying to demonstrate how strange and backward the Qunari's rules were. In other words, they were using the Qun as an example of something bad. They wanted players to think, "Women aren't allowed to be soldiers under the Qun? Booooo the Qun!" And when you think about it, Sten does get proven wrong at least twice. He can challenge a female Warden in combat and LOSE, and he can witness a woman find his lost sword for him (to which he complements her). But I think the point was to show how restrictive and anti-freedom the Qun is. Yeah but slavery is universally condemned in the real world. Feudalism and monarchies are rejected in the real world. BioWare is covering topics to which there is no other side to make valid arguments. It's like including rape or murder in their plots. No one argues those things are good. Therefore there is no political discussion to be had there. What fans refer to when they say to keep real world politics out of it is don't preach to us about so-called "trans rights", or fat acceptance, or the patriarchy, or illegal aliens, or skin color prejudice, etc. Or at least, if you do, then also do two things. 1. Make it relevant to the plot in an interesting or entertaining way. 2. Give us the option to voice disagreement with it and present the other side, and also give us the option to ignore it or even skip over it. Having real life things in a game isn't the same as including real world politics. Even having in-game politics isn't the same as having real world politics. You can have lords, armies, and rival factions, because those things can logically exist in that fantasy world. Nothing wrong with that. We're talking about real world political issues. It would be like if DA4 had a quest centered around what's going on in Ukraine and having parallels to Putin or Zelensky, and then only presenting one side of the issue to make political statements. Imagine if BioWare had Tevinter trying to annex Nevarra and we were only allowed to side with Nevarra because clearly they're the "right" side because of this, that, or the other reason. I mean, can you imagine if Inquisition came out after 2016? Even some within the fanbase were trying to equate Corypheus with Trump years after the game launched. Well that's the thing, Dragon Age has always had characters of various skin colors. It has always had characters who were homosexual and bisexual, but it was never made an issue of. So no one sees any of that as political, and we are saying that it should stay that way. No, excluding some groups makes sense if they don't fit within the world of Thedas logically. What if I were to start complaining to BioWare about the lack of Christian representation in Dragon Age? They might come back and say that the Chantry is based off of Catholicism, but then I could say that's not good enough. BioWare needs to include storylines about Jesus Christ being the Son of God and being sent to Earth (a parallel world to the Dragon Age universe) to die for the sins of all people in existence, and that what people call The Maker is actually the Judaeo-Christian God of The Bible. AND, don't give players the choice to disagree with this new development. Do you really think BioWare would alter the storyline of Dragon Age to accommodate my requests? Or do you think they would say my demands don't fit the story Dragon Age is trying to tell? That's the response we want from BioWare when these fringe minority groups come-a-bellyaching to them about representation in video games. No, you don't have to go into it, because the Qun proves my point. It has rigid views of gender roles, and the player is given options to disagree. Also, the Qun is portrayed in the game as being bad. So if anything, BioWare was trying to virtue signal about not shoving people into gender roles, but even in this the issue is not preachy or in your face about it because the Qun is also depicted as odd, confusing, and foreign to the country your character lives in. If BioWare changes the Qun to take the opposite stance, then it will be because real world politics bled into the game. Again, we don't have any problems with political issues being in the game. The problem is real world issues being preached to us through the game. If BioWare is going to include a real world political issue in the game then, 1. It should be so relevant to the plot that it seems like it arises naturally from the story itself rather than real world events or statements the writers want to make, and 2. We should not have the issue preached to us. We should be given the choice to agree, disagree, have no opinion, or ignore it entirely. That in itself makes the issue non-political in nature.
@@BelieveIt1051 I'll try to condense most of my points as much as possible because a lot of it has already been said, but long paragraphs inbound 1. I'm not concerned with whether the narrative condemns or praises something connected to real world politics because propaganda has nothing to do with "good or evil," it's simply a tool. To me, I don't view the "rigid gender role" thing as pandering to "misogynists" rather it signals to a much larger audience than that. You don't need to be an outright woman-hater to be subconsciously or outright drawn to these types of hierarchies. 2. Slavery, feudalism and monarchism are not at all universally condemned, in fact it is still widely practiced and many people yearn for the return of it. It might be abolished or condemned where you and the Bioware developers live for example, which is why it doesn't feel "political" or challenging to most player's sensibilities. But it is still overtly political. 3. It's a fallacy to compare religious groups to sexual minorities (which I assume you mean by the "trans rights" comment) because one is a moral, theological and sometimes political identity while the other is by most accounts either a biological or inherent identity. The Chantry is a good parallel for religious people I imagine, I personally quite like having an in-game faith-based allegory. Similarly, I imagine sexual minorities (who, by the way, make up a huge portion of this community) probably like to have more role-playing options where they are represented. It's not much deeper than "company wants player base to be reflected" because it's a reasonable strategy both marketing wise and community-building wise. Also you admit sexual minorities have always been part of the DA universe but "never made an issue out of it" so I don't see the point. They fit into the world "logically" because they were never excluded in the first place. 4. You've noticed the Qun is portrayed as "bad" in several ways which proves my point about the ideological slant of the narrative - the notion that individualism and personal freedom is the default good while the Qun is a backwards, collectivist alien philosophy is a good example of pandering to a western audience for example. Which makes sense, because that is where the series was made and developed - I'm not saying this is good or bad, but we should be honest enough to say these games were ALWAYS political. This is where DA has done a good job in my opinion, because the Qun conflict is overt enough (at least on a surface level) that the player has room to agree or disagree. I understand but disagree with what you're trying to say with your last point. The issue is that I don't think you and those who agree will ever be satisfied. There will always be some decision or small in-game quip that sets off your "you made it political!" alarm bells, even if it makes sense to the story. What is the actual difference between "including political issues in the game" versus "preaching to the player about political issues?" Personally, you probably know where that line is drawn, but opinions are very split once you start asking people this question - I have seen many who get legitimately *triggered* by a trans character merely acknowledging that they're trans, while others say that hiding or not mentioning a trans identity is an attempt to "sneak ideology into the game." You see, there is no correct way for Bioware to handle this other than ripping the band-aid off by simply stating "this is a trans character," which easily gets clumsy writing-wise but it's straight to the point and leaves no room for ambiguity about a character's identity. I'm putting emphasis on trans identity here because I have a sneaking suspicion that this is what you and others are actually upset about, since you seem to dismiss other political references such as feudalism, slavery, misogyny, monarchism, collectivism vs individualism and so on. To me, these issues are a lot more interesting to critically examine in a story than some random non-playable character's sexual or gender identity. As somewhat of a side note, the player had plenty of room to be an asshole (if we're being blunt here) about both sexual and gender identity in DAI. What I mean when I speak of covert ideological propaganda in the series are those moments where we *cannot* agree, disagree or ignore the issue because it is inherently part of the structure of the narrative. So I've been agreeing with your point that there needs to be an option for the player to voice their in-game or real-world view. It's more interesting that way even just from a role-playing perspective. The point of contention is that I think we have always had that option for doing that with the more overt political themes presented in the game. At the end of the day, most of the "this is too woke" criticisms stem from the panic felt by aging gamers once they realize they no longer hold the position as the primary consumer of the medium, in other words it's a fear of getting old and losing social capital. Just another generation that bites the dust by falling for a new manufactured identity-politics culture war. Sometimes it's not much deeper than "Bioware knows where the wind is blowing and makes an informed marketing decision in response."
All I want is to see my Warden and Morrigan together with Kieran as a family just one time. I don’t care how it’s done or when it’s done, I just want it to happen and I will be forever satisfied. The feeling of playing through Origins for the first time was special. I want to go back 😭 Honestly I’m going into DAD and the next Mass Effect with low expectations. I don’t want to disappoint myself by being unrealistic. I really haven’t been looking into the development for the next games that much. I don’t think that anything will compare to the classic games, that’s why I’m just going with the flow. Whatever direction BioWare is going with these next installments, I’m just going to enjoy the games for what they are and be happy that I’m still getting new additions to my favorite game franchises. Sometimes that’s all one can do.
@@ReveredDead True. I have seen concept art for the Grey Wardens for DA:D. My hope is that the Warden will have been successful in finding a cure for the calling and will make an appearance at some point during the game alongside his family. Still, I am keeping expectations low.
That's not canon though. Some people chose Alastair, some Loghain to have the baby with Morrigan. You'd have to create it for all 3 of them and that's a lot of work. Even more so if Loghain went into the Fade.
My biggest concern and probably the reason I don't go back to do even more play throughs is how janky some of the animation is in cutscenes, really can take you out of how epic moments can feel when cassandra is going to lean on her sword and her entire body just moves inhumanly. Probably a long shot and I doubt if it was an issue I wouldn't know it on the first playthrough of whatever comes next but fingers crossed.
Such a long time between game developments always bodes poorly for not only the final result of the game having been scrapped, re-done, and scrapped again, but also a distancing on the lore and world they carefully crafted way back when. I'm not an expert by any means, but i need only look in the past to see this may very well be the last of our beloved franchise simply because... It's E.A. It's become synonymous with 'devourer' because of how many studios it's taken into its fold and literally swallowed whole. I'm already concerned Bioware's been gutted as is since it's heart-wrenching buy out. And frankly, why shouldn't we be concerned? E.A. has never done anything to dissuade people but instead encourage actively terrible responses. We'll see if they somehow, someway pull something off but I doubt it won't involve microtransactions. I will be amazing surprised and speak praises if it doesn't. Critics should watch this particular project closely. I'm already calling it that they flop. I would love to be wrong.
The only real chance is for the Dragon Age rights to be sold to another company, as long as EA and Bioware are involved with this there can be no realistic hope for this being good.
Coming back to this, you talk about a gang of spies going into the Tevinter Imperium. They turned it into Dragon Age Absolution. No wonder it felt like the whole cast of characters there was more to them but somehow cut short.
When the color palette of electric purple and the name Dreadwolf was dropped, I wasn't intrigued. The crumbling font really conveys the idea that BioWare/EA is letting the franchise fall around them. The official title seems too on the nose. Naming it after the big bad? The official title really seems to clash with the previous installments of Origins, Exodus (DA2 before EA interfered and said no one will get that it's a sequel), and Inquisition. I'd rather the game be called Absolution, instead of giving that title away to a Netflix special. The worst thing to ever happen to Dragon Age was letting EA but the franchise. Trying to be optimistic, but Inquisition fell flat after The Witcher III and the meaningful game play it offered by comparison. Can't help but think Dreadwolf is constantly playing catch up.
To be honest I don't even know if another Dragon Age game is worth it. Obviously, I don't have any information on the game itself but I just don't want Bioware to destroy itself like it nearly did with Dragon Age Inquisition's development. Should they make whatever cash-grab crap that EA wants out of them? I wish I could say no but I guess it's up to Bioware at this point. Play it safe or bet it all on black; I just hope that they get what they want out of it.
I just want a solid main story and companion quests, I don't want a bunch of side quests that really don't matter to my character or story. In DAO and ME1, I loved feeling like I had a place in the universe; that I had a story before this. Party Banter was always my favorite thing in these games, its usually what got me through the side quests and made me want to play more. For me DAI had some good party interactions and quests, I enjoyed all of the companions in one way or another. I was just a bit disappointed that it felt like I didn't have alot of impact while as the Inquisitor, no major changes would happen if I made different decisions. And again a little sad that my background didn't have more explaining/ narrative (I played a dalish elf for my first playthrough in DAI) (I haven't played DAI Trespasser yet, just haven't had the time recently)
I understand DA2's criticism but I absolutely loved the game. It made the slow paced battle system more epic with fantasy based speed and fighting styles, the story had a more condensed specific route but still gave you the chance to make decisions that would effect the whole game. I feel like DA2 deserves another shot maybe a remake giving it the open world treatment but have just be within Kirkwall and certain areas around the Free March's kind of like Haven city in Jak 2 and certain areas outside the city (just quite larger obviously 🤣🤣🤣).
Main reason I am worried is Inquisitions big boring zones, lack of level scaling, and the war room timers. :P While DAII had a lack of variety in locations, its focus on characters and lack of boring sections makes it the game I've enjoyed replaying the most.
You forgot the main concern - the level of writing. It dropped significantly starting from DAI. It was so horrible compared to the previous bioware games, that it sounded more like Xena: Warrior Princes than like bioware game.
My main concern is if they are going to put wokeism in the game. It has killed multiple games, like the Saints Row franchise and Mass Effect: Andromeda, for instance.
I loved DAO to the bones and I still call it my favourite game of all times in spite of having played video games since the first half of the nineties. When I preordered DA2 I was shipped a console game and only half developed, with a sad simplified console system itemization. I didn’t bother to order inquisition, I simply checked it was still developed around consoles and passed forward. EA can go with all the lives services and consoles they want, I am dropping most AAA titles and only paying money for indie games
I respect the effort that Bioware team put to make RPG game work on Frostbite, but I do believe that stating that DAI did well on Frostbite is putting it a bit too generous.
I really don’t know why people hated dragon age 2 so much. It wasn’t my favourite of the games but I still really enjoyed it, but I see so many people shitting on it
i think lack of clear vision and direction is a warning signs of DA4 might be another failure of bioware. when u conceive something good in u, it shows as unwieding confidence. why bioware scrapped their ongoing project several times? that shows their visions are not strong enough
Something not mentioned that pretty much confirms that this game is not gonna be good, is the fact that, After Joplin was cancelled it was noticed that, all the Bioware Veterans that made Dragon Age what it is today, Like Mike Mothereffing Laidlaw, the man himself, David Gaider the lead writer, Mark Darrah The creative Director of Dragon Age Origins, Aaron Flyyn who is the studio head, Jacques Lebrun who is the engine programmer and tech director on the Dragon Age series, had all left, with Mike Laidlaw who was the creative director at the time specifically leaving because of Joplin's cancellation. The people who gave you the story, the world and the characters are no longer there and are not even being consulted. If you still have hope for not just this game but Bioware in general, You are heading into a very dark corridor with no evidence of light at the end. I have just listed just a few of the dpeatures and they are all big deals. Bioware is now chuck full of so many unqualified staff, it's ridiculous to expect anything of quality from them at this point. I speculate that this game will release as a buggy mess, the story and dialogue will be cringe, There will be americanised socio-politics and then when things get too heated, EA Shuts down Bioware. End of discussion.
Since BioWare was first bought by EA I grieved that Dragon Age would never have another game. The fact that BioWare is still making RPGs makes me happy, EA is always going to want to monetize everything they can especially as Fortnight has been making money hand over fist! As long as BioWare doesn't ruin the game in EAs need for the mighty dollar I have no problem waiting. Inquisition took like 10 years before it got done. As long as the Dragon Age game stay good, I'm good!
i personally think bioware need to take control of dragon age and possibly put dragon age dreadwolf on hold and remaster origins as a way to get back into contact with their own community
even Anthem sold really well compared to their competitors. BioWare does not have a problem monetarily, its usually the studios management/EA’s view of them that prohibits progress for these games
Yeah, I'm getting very fed up with EA. I'm not a fan of MMO gaming and will probably never pay for such a game. They loose money by forcing that out instead of anything good.
My main want for DA:Dreadwolf is this. A simple way to load an DA:I savegame into a new game, not having to go through all of the Dragon Age Keep crap. I've handled game play changes before. I trust Bioware to handle the game story well.
When developers, and gamers in general, become dismissive of single player games, then I tend to become dismissive of them in turn because they obviously don't know what they're talking about. There is a *high* demand for a good single player game experience... and unfortunately for the likes of EA and other developers who tend to prefer shady and predatory loot boxes/microtransactions, it requires an effort that they just don't want to expend.
I don’t like how they locked weapons to class starting in 2. I would like to be able to wield a 1 handed sword with no shield if i choose, or dual wield.
I have no faith in Bioware anymore; they have not produced a single truly great game since Mass Effect 2 (which even that had some serious problems). DAO was one of the greatest games ever made; DA2 and DAI the best part of the games was when it was referencing characters or stories from the 1st game (which was mostly produced before EA bought them). Mass Effect 3 and DAI had some potential but were seriously flawed games; and they have only gotten worst since then.
Hell look at the disastrous launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic's 7.0. They'd promised a year to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the MMO, massive gameplay overhaul and loads of new content. Nothing happened until February, two months after the official 10th anniversary and they couldn't even release the whole thing. Gameplay nerfs that everyone complained about in PTS that was ignored, a disappointing two hours of content, bugs galore, and a new gearing system that nobody liked. Every other comment in this video blames EA for Bioware's misfortunes but not everything that's gone wrong with this company should be laid at their feet.
@@rebellyanmagic6409 I gave up on TOR. I hate MMOs in general and TOR doesn't offer enough single player content to justify the grind. Plus basically everything since knights of the eternal empire has been underwhelming at best and broken lore at worst. To be fair though Bioware produced almost nothing but gold until EA took over so while 100% can't be laid at EAs feet they certainly played a big part in the environment and direction of bioware
All valid points, the only thing i would say is what would a dragon age live game look like? FF14? ESO? Like I think seeing a live version of the dragon age universe is not super far fetched an idea. Infact it would be pretty cool to have a dragon age game to play with your friends while you wait for the next single player game. Especially when some of them take a decade. Not to mention the roleplay, customization, and new audience those games can bring in. I know tons of people who never played a FF game before until FF14 and are now playing or have gone back and played the older single player games, the newer ones, and now await the latest installment coming out real soon. Dragon age also has plenty of eras in its history that make alot of sense for an MMO. Like the Second Blight which lasted like 90 or so years something like that. I get not everyone here would be like woo a multiplayer game, but to say its hard to imagine one is far from the reality of the situation. And FF14, SWTOR, Guild Wars 2, ESO have all proven that MMO's or basically Online RPG's can tell really strong stories.
As someone that only plays Inquisition/Mass Effect games for the dungeon crawler multiplayer aspect it confuses me why they're choosing to ditch the feature in dreadwolf if it could technically be seen as live service with the loot crates for irl money and they could make new missions/playable characters as a dlc drops in the future. Not saying the current iterations of either games multiplayer is perfect by any means but not having it at all just removes there options for long term money and leaves it all up to the box price.
I am extremely skeptical about bioware's take on this game. Especially since all the OG's are gone. But I also know people will try to bash things about the game no matter how good it is or isn't. You remember when people who must've never played a bioware game before complained about "facial animations" in adromeda? like that was ever a thing bioware was good at? I spent 1000+ hours in that game. The multiplayer was really fun. The game play was really fun. The story was great. Yet... all these negative reviews because this one lady's face was tired lol. Still. EA and bioware should've kept the game track the way it was going. INCLUDING the multiplayer elements. And I know that's considered a controversial opinion. But I play a 11 year old game that has been updated every few months. Adding new stories. Lore. I played the inquistion multiplayer a whole lot. It was really fun. I DO like that you can play the game alone but I can play alone in the bioware multiplayer game that I play rn. I like to be able to play with other people, too. And when I don't like those people I press the ignore button and never hear from them again. end rant.
In regard to the engine the listings for the next Mass Effect shows signs that they swap back over to using UE for future productions thanks to the successful title that Respawn made with the Star Wars games. Also the Titanfall games run on a heavily modified Source engine as it’s core.
I hope Bioware understands that the story is what sells Dragon Age before everything else. Dragon Age Inquisition had this huge open world where no quests of importance happened, it was quite awkward, also kind of sad given they did huge efforts to build the map. Trespasser was so good, I never saw such a good ending to a game, everything in all the franchise finally comes together, the Blight, Morrigan and her mother, etc. With that ending, it's hard to make a bad sequel story out of it, the plot is great. I can only hope they focus on Solas, not on some side kick vilain like Coreypheus who really feels like a distraction, he was a generic vilain recycled from DA2 that didn't add much to the world's story. Finally, I hope the companions are at the center of the story, I love deep companions that affect the main plot.
When the previous lead said that dragon is about friendship and love and overcoming evil together, I lost all hope. That is not what dragon age was ever about. Bedause duh you can fucking make evil characters, have strained relationships and betray and be betrayed by love interests.
EA need to back the hell off, none of these issues existed before EA took over Bioware, DA origins was developed before EA bought them out and they spent over ten years building the game.
I'm actually also concerned about the art direction. The weapons and armor in the games look progressively more ridiculous, where in the case of DA:I I can't even see a modicum of functionality anymore in the designs. What's DA4 going to look like? Mall Ninja gothic weapns with spikes on spikes on spikes? lol. Most of the DAI weapons you can use are shaped awkwardly or have holes literally in the center of the blade. Like...what? Many of the armor designs have small plates of armor in certain areas but lack significant protection showing over vital areas - which honestly is a huge issue in many RPGs in general and is a tremendous source of frustration. Having tassets/hip armor but with zero crotch protection, and only a single metal plate over the upper pectorals leaves most of your front body completely vulnerable. alternative armor choices like gambison or leather don't even exist, its just cloth instead. So yeah. That's my concern, actually. However, I have the sinking suspicion that soon we will either see a cancellation of the game, or news of an actual release date, and sadly, the former seems more likely at this rate.
Given the drama between devs/staff for this game getting way too comfy with intruding on fandom spaces on Twitter, I doubt that any real original ideas or less insensitive themes/portrayals will be on the table. This just beyond not having faith in the shaky nature of their writing team or the gameplay. 🤷🏽
I want so badly for this game to be co-op in some way. I loved the older games and ever since then I've played Destiny as my main game. I have a bunch of friends that would totally play DA4 if it was co-op.
![The History of Thedas (A beginners guide) [Dragon Age Lore]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/pquqSANLIAA/mqdefault.jpg)
My main concern is with the writing. This simply isn’t the same BioWare that everyone loved. I’m not saying their current writing staff are bad, just that they aren’t the team that made the world feel special.
Also the amount of BioWare staff leaving during the production of this game is really concerning.
Oh, I'm willing to say their writing staff is bad. Andromeda's writing in particular is a disgrace.
The current writing staff on dreadwolf wrote some of the best parts of the earlier Dragon Age and Mass Effect games. The lead writer wrote Solas and the Tresspasser DLC, another key writer wrote Tevinter Nights the book and the list goes on. I'm not worried at all.
@@MaxiGoethling I agree, with Weekes as lead writer, the writing credentials are first rate.
@@Arizona-ex5yt its just a bunch of woke propagandists how on earth could one even remotely imagine any good writing could come from "this"
@@laurentguyot3362 We getting s(he)/them stuff?
It’s a good sign that they’ve confirmed there will be no multiplayer - hopefully this is the studio and distributor realizing that we want a core RPG with a more classic feel.
As someone who just generally dislikes multiplayer games as a whole, I’m very hopeful with it being a solo world. Let me build my own story in my own world.
That was a big win for all parties. It means Bioware will be focusing entirely on the story and the world we all love. And we will get to see the fruits of their labor. Multiplayer shouldn't exist in Dragon Age. It's not in it's DNA. We can thank the failure of Anthem and huge success of SW Fallen Order for that decision. It might've saved Dreadwolf. But I intend to hold my judgement till I play it.
@@ReveredDead idk I thought inquisition multiplayer was fun, I understand where people are coming from tho
The problem is they also said DAI was going to gave more tactical combat and ba "a game by pc players for oc players". I have hard time trusting anything they say.
Oh well. Hopefully no multiplayer means the classes won't all feel the same like they did in DAI.
I heard in reality it's not bioware who decided so, but EA. EA made them work on dragon age 4 years ago as a multiplayer game, but once they failed at anthem they decided to stop the production of DA4 and make them go the solo route.
On the one hand i'm pleased about that decision because DA for me is a solo rpg experience, on the other it means EA still takes decisions in making games by their studios and their reputation as the studio slayer is not good.
I also loved DAI's multiplayer coop as it was a change in multiplayer games and a concept i think was amazing as a beta. I hope they make one day an other game of that style because coop PVE in a dragon age universe is just so fun.
I also hope we get to go in tevinter still, as the previous DA4 project was going to be, but as long as we get a good dragon age i'm all fine with their decisions. And it being solo can only make it better ^^ Hoepfully EA stays out of it and bioware focus on the game through past issues they've had in the production and can deliver a great DA like origins and inquisition were \[T]/
Please just less fetch quests would rather have a shorter game with more meaningful side content then an 100 hour game filled with menial tasks
This times 1,000!
My main concern is that even if the game is a big redemption for Bioware after the humiliating financial disasters of Anthem and Andromeda and fans love it. EA is still gonna kill the company unless the game is a massive success that exceeds EA's probably unrealistic sales expectations
Yeah that sounds about right...sadly...
The Bioware you're thinking of is long gone. Like, the original three who helped create the games that defined western rpgs for a decade aren't there. Nor is any of the talent who actually did the minute work to realize those ambitions.
Bioware isn't Bioware. its EA Edmonton wearing Bioware like a skinsuit.
People ALWAYS keep saying how EA is going to kill Bioware. But realistically speaking, the time to do that would have been after Anthem's launch. If they didn't do it then, they are not going to do it after the studio launched a new title in their top selling franchise.
@@razztamara3306 honestly good point I'm surprised Bioware survived Anthem's launch. Still if Dreadwolf comes out unfinished and broken on launch like andromeda and anthem I can't see the Bioware recovering from 3 big AAA failures in a row like that but I'm really hoping Dreadwolf will come together by the end whenever it comes out
@@razztamara3306 we don't know what their contract looked like. Might have had a number of games already contracted. And DA4 has been in production as long as Anthem
Party banter and personal quests are still some of my favourite parts of DAI, I hope they find a way to make them more meaningful and better integrated to the main story of DAD.
There was party banter in inquisition? I think I heard it once over all my play time, and I couldn't be sure that wasn't cut dialogue bugging it's way back into the game, what with it being the only time it happened.
@@theseventhify Yeah, but it just never triggered at the right moments, you probably skipped most of it by jumping on a horse, starting a fight, fast traveling, etc.
DAI was a shit game.
@@Kserijaro It has issues, but it's quite good anyway. In my opinion anyway, it's not a masterpiece, but neither were the two first of the series. Origins has a lot of issues too, I just played the whole series recently, they all had great and terrible elements.
I found Origins combat bad honestly, especially given how much fighting there is. And the Orzamar part is so boring too.
@@MichaelDavis-mk4me Origins is one of the best games in the genre and fighting is amazing too. You are probably playing it wrong or didn't play enough similar games.
inquisition was a big and gorgeous game yet felt completely empty due to how generic most of the side quests were, generic fetch quests of "inquisitor, can you find [item/person] for me?" that you only did out of the motivation of xp and gold.
i want more thought out side quests, like the ones from origins where they were related to the worldbuilding and you were involved to see how they would end.
oh and also prettier hairs, or better mod support lol
actual mod support would be amazing. What the community has done even without it is pretty damn impressive though
Meaningful side quests that have an impact depending on the choices you make. Like when you find that girl's kid brother in Redcliffe, and if you give her the maximum amount for their family sword (if you persuade the boy to give you the key), she becomes a successful business woman and eventually marries Bann Teagan.
@@rebellyanmagic6409 This
@@rebellyanmagic6409 always such a fun game when your decisions ACTUALLY matter.
@@rebellyanmagic6409 Smaller scale, but deeper choices. That's bigger, but in a better way. There is actually more to do in Dragon Age Origins than Inquisition.
I have about 150+ reasons to be concerned.
It's a list of names of each person who left Bioware since 2015.
I'm cautiously optimistic, but realistically they've really fractured their fan base for the franchise. I think it'll be about impossible to thread the needle on DAD in a way that would make everyone happy. So I hope they pick a direction and stick with it. What little info we have gotten has looked promising at least though.
We can only be hopeful, but reality sadly likes to get in the way.
LegacyKillaHD did a video in March of 2021 about 150+ people that left Bioware since 2015. That, combined with Anthem, Andromeda, DA's very long silence, Joplin being cancelled by EA...
( ua-cam.com/video/U0Arbrqq_zM/v-deo.html - Link to the video)
It doesn't spell anything good so far, but hey, that only means they can turn it all around for the better
Everytime I get optimistic, I return to EA quotes and ideas. Reminds me that DA4 is a game in the hands of these bloodthirsty vampires kills that enthusiasm.
@@adekaiwamisou ''Keep your expectations low, and you will never be disappointed.'' - Kratos
It's probably Biowares last chance. They either get this right or EA shuts them down.
@@ReveredDead let's hope for the former. It may even be enough to turn a few heads in the EA big wigs if it suceeds hard enough.
I would like to see more choices and consequences depending on what race you play. In Inquisition your race didnt really matter besides small insignificant changes (losing approval of court if you are non-human or random dialog option), so i would like to see being treated by companions and other npcs differently if i play a dwarf, elf or qunari.
Make some ingame option availabe only if you are certain race - for example you have to choose between siding with human village or dalish clan and ONLY ELF character can make a choice to try negotiate with both and come to a compromise instead of choosing a side.
Have some companions treat and speak to you differently if you are different race as them or more friendly and casually if you are both the same. Like a dwarf companion will drink and laugh with you if you are a dwarf or try to appear more stoic and tough if you are not. Perhaps have a qunari companion who follows the Qun and if you are like them and follow a Qun and its teachings as well, they will respect you, otherwise they would consider you Tal-Vatosh and treat you with disgust.
Qunari are really hated in Tevinter so playing as one would probably be interesting.
@@Inquisitor_Askeladd It almost makes me worried that we won't have a choice of race in DA4 because its set in Tevinter. Nearly all elves are enslaved there and the few who aren't have risen through the ranks to become low level magisters under the service and greater Tevinter magisters, Tevinter is in active war with the Qunari over Seheron so I doubt they can even show their faces on the mainland, etc.
The devs will likely try to let us pick from all races because fans riot otherwise, but it's hard to imagine how it will work out narratively. DA2 didn't let us pick our protag's race and DAI originally wasn't going to let you play Dwarves or Qunari but they changed it last minute due to fan outcry.
@@SaVanityVan It wouldn't be that hard to make Qunari work, Although they are hated it's not like people will just attack them on sight. Considering Tevinter and the Qunari has been fighting for centuries there is probably a sizeable Vashoth/Tal Vashoth population in Tevinter, there is also probably Qunari slaves as well... so a slave origin could also work with Qunari.
I'm curious to see if we'll get a big announcement or update when the Dragon Age Netflix show comes out in December.
Also I love how you showed a pic of Solas when you said "negating hairstyles" 😂
After what Paramount did to Halo and their "halo" TV show. I really don't want Dragon Age on the big screen. God no...
My main concern is actually more the fact they're constantly looking for positions to be filled every 6 months.
Here's the main reason we're concerned: Apparently most of the talented people have left BioWare, and the people left in charge are more concerned with politics than writing good stories, characters, and making a good game. They haven't made a good game since ME3, and even that one was sliding away from the glory of ME2 and DA:O. DA:I was okay as it took a different direction, but certainly not BioWare's old standard. MEA was released in a terrible state, and Anthem was about 1/4 of a game.
Nobody should have high hopes for this studio anymore.
To your point, I’ve barely seen any marketing for the game. The marketing i have seen revolved around Dragon Age Day and BioWare choosing the Trans Empowerment Project as its Dragon Age Day charity. TEP is dedicated to fighting “white supremacy” and giving power to disabled trans people of color. I’m not here to say whether that’s good or bad but it does show their priorities and that they are willing to already alienate a large number of fans that don’t feel the same way about those very specific issues.
I hear the only reason that DA:4 isn't going to be a live service game is because of the success of Jedi Fallen Order.
The trailer for "Morrison" project was aired at the game awards in 2018, while Jedi Fallen Order did not released until 2019.
Love the entire series but, sadly, Bioware is attached to a the worst of the worst, EA. Fingers crossed they can overcome and deliver this time around.
Btw, love the vids! Great perspective, please keep 'em comin'!
Anthem was mostly BioWare management’s fault. EA gave them funding for 7 years and left them to it, the report on the development woes of anthem place the blame on BioWares horrifically inefficient management, studio politics and trouble with frostbite.
Agreed, I would never say Bioware was without fault when they've come up short. Thier name on the product, they wear it. The famed "Bioware magic" is a flawed system. But, EA does them no favors. They've long been an example of truly caustic management of acquired studios. Thier influence on Bio is no different. As I think Bioware's performance since acquisition has clearly shown.
There's also the fact that the amazing people who gave us Origins and Mass Effect are no longer with BioWare - there's been a noticeable decline in quality from BioWare since they left
EA is bad, but people are too quick to blame them alone. I saw it with Respawn as well. Many times they fuck up, yet people will blame EA. Bioware has lost its soul too. It isn't just EA.
I dont get why, if ea dont like single player games, they bought bioware, a company focused in single player games.
Just to see them suffer I think, EA destroyed many game studios and prolly will continue to do so
They bought BioWare during a different time. In 2008 micro transactions almost didn’t exist, lootboxes didn’t exist, and games as a service didn’t exist. Pretty much the only monetization multiplayer games had was map packs and single player games had expansions. That was it. This was during an era where if a game got paid dlc on day 1, people got mad because it was clearly ready and the publisher could have put it in the game instead of charging for it. It simply was a different time
The lack of marketing for a game that Bioware needs to sell tells me that it's going to be delayed. There is clearly an issue at Bioware though where the studio has lost it's identity, which in large part is probably due to Anthem taking them away from making single-player RPGS driven by player choice. I hope in the making of DAD they have brought in people that can help recreate that lost identity.
What I expect to see - at least for the first part of the game - is a return to DA:O style Origins for the class you pick.
This game is being set in a part of Thedas we've never seen, whose culture is at times the antithesis to what we've seen. Instead of throwing us headfirst into the action, let us have thr chance to really absorb this new world before the game begins. Like for example, picking a Mage class in this would be similar to playing the Human Warrior/Rogue in DA:O, since Mages in Tevinter are high up on the ladder. You'd get to see what a Tevinter Circle looks like, you'd get a lot of political intrigue you'd expect from a decadent noble class etc. The story could be you're the first Mage born to your family, and so it's like both player and PC are experiencing this new society together.
I LOVED how they did class/race starts in DAO. Not only was it a great introduction to the world that felt more personal to the character you made, it also made it so much more powerful when you ran into those characters & consequences later on.
DA2 had reduced scope so it made sense not to have it there, but I really felt the absence of it in DAI.
@@ceridwenaeradwr8105 Yes, exactly. Outside of a few dialogue options, certain romances and your initial social standing at the start of the Winter Palace quest, the Inquisitor feels like Generic McHero most of the time. I would like a return to that personal connection to your chosen hero in DA4. Seeing how they exist in their corner of the Imperium and carrying that throughout the game. Eg a Mage Hero will obviously have a different experience to an Elf Hero. Heck, we might get a chance to play a Dwarven merchant or Ambassadoria, see how much influence they have in a society that relies on lyrium.
My main concerns: Can Bioware keep their focus throughout the development process and will EA be able to resist meddling. I guess the two are somewhat linked as was seen in Anthem.
Anthem's problem wasn't EA though. EA did its best to actually force them to *make a fucking game* after so long, which is a reasonable thing considering the decade they spent in what amounted to pre-production. Yes, EA is bad and destroys its subsidiary developers, but in this one instance, Bioware did it to themselves.
@@TheGreatDanish Oh absolutely.
“Single player games just don’t provide enough profit”
….
Meanwhile Skyrim 25th anniversary edition about to be released in 3 days followed up by the 26th anniversary in a month
Not as much profit as ESO frankily 😅
it'll get milked as long as people are buying it.
Skyrim makes pennies vs what live service games make. And live service games make pennies vs what mobile gacha games make. This is the reality of the industry. For perspective, Genshin Inpact makes roughly $400 million EVERY. SINGLE. YEAR. It has already made over a billion dollars and isn’t slowing down
I’m a long time BioWare fan, and Dragon Age is my favorite. I’ve been following this quite closely, and from what I understand they have had to actually restart and overhaul production twice. Joplin being the first, and I don’t know if they changed the name of Morrison before they made an official title, but Morrison was going to be live service. One developer even claimed it would be “Anthem, but with dragons.” Something everyone collectively shuddered at the sound of. They have since said that they have removed all live service elements claiming that they are going to go back to what made BioWare successful: phenomenally written single-player stories. But with that, many have wondered just how much they had to remove from Morrison and redo. I assume a lot has had to be overhauled, and honestly I have to imagine that they aren’t posting a lot of updates and announcements because they probably don’t have anything meaningful to show yet. As a long time fan of Dragon Age, I am really hoping they can pull of a miracle akin to Andraste’s Ashes healing Arl Eamon. Truly a great job on the video, and I hope everyone the the comments has a blessed day. :)
I think the mistake the devs made with Inquisition was they said to much before the release. We were lead to belive our choices would have more impact and the world would be more interactive and dynamic with a few battles even. So maybe now they are deciding to play their cards more tightly to their chest to prevent any let downs on things that might end up cut due to time and budget issues. Plus the pandemic really put production on a crawl on every industry.
Personally I belive EA is dumb to think they can't montize and make more money off of single player games. I would have happily paid hundreds of dollars for more armor, weapons and deore items and dlcs aventures in Inqusition hell I'd be more than happy to rebuy the older games of the series if they so choose to remaster them. The voice acting, story and such are all done but the licensing might be a pain. Still I hope to see remastered version someday or some things added that were dropped due to deadlines in the past. Dragon Age only had 9 months to get made. It deserves far more.
As someone who didn't pay attention to it up to release (as I do with most games, got burnt on hype trains enough times) the problems were glaring in the game itself. It felt like a single player MMO with all the attendant fetch quests and grind 20 bear backsides quests, not the tighter single player experience you want with a RPG. Not to mention the real-time gatekeeping at the mission table that just made no sense whatsoever and made it felt even more like a single player MMO. The story was good but the padding around it was just ridiculous.
As for EA, yeah I don't get their hate towards single player games either. That's what happens when bean counters take over though. Also I think you mean DA2 in your second last sentence, yeah that was just stupid, and it really made the game suffer. And that's as someone who actually kinda liked DA2, even though the same handful of dungeons just slightly mixed up was a real killjoy.
@@captainmurphy4948 lol yeah I meant DA2 ^_^ I swear my keyboard some of the time doesn't pick up all my finger strokes.
I've seen a few videos discussing how most MMOs are now shifting more and more to solo play content. But honestly, I'm still not a huge fan of MMOs because 95 percent or less of the quests and story archs lack any depth. I've played ESO on and off since beta but it's getting too expensive and the stories are honestly not compelling. They're paying too much attention on cosmetics and not enough on writing talent. They are also dropping the ball on what makes a good MMO and that's the PvP areas.
I help an NPC in ESO and will never see them again and they have the personality of a cardboard cutout. It all makes any quest feel more like a chore than helping the game's world a better place and making a connection with a character. Plus MMOs you feel like just another shlub in a sea of shlubs all wrapped up in pissing contests. Players running around in neon orange armor like chickens with their heads cut off and trying to get me to dual breaks immersion for me than it fills the enviroment with "more life."
If you're looking for a deep solo RPG to pass the time until DA4 aka DAD (lol) I highly recommend Baldur's Gate 3. If you love DAO seriously you'll love BG3. Even in early beta release it's... *chief's kiss* So many feels. Move over Solas and hello Astarion. It's on patch 8 now but 9 will be dropping hopefully in a month or so. It's a pricy game but worth every penny. Since patch eight I've put in close to 600 hours and that's when we can only play the first chapter.
EA knows what they are doing. Any single player game is going to have mods that fill those gaps for free. If any recurring revenue comes from single player games it's going to be from new content like DLCs or sales for merchandise.
While I understand alot of these worries, I don't think that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will necessarily fail monetarily. As of 2015, Dragon Age: Inquisition became the most "successful game" in purely units sold - So there's no doubt that EA made their money back and then some.
What this means however - Is that people should expect more of what DAI provided since Dreadwolf has been built on the groundwork made in DAI. When it comes to EA & monetization, there'll probably be some ingame shop for cosmetics or something akin to that since it's proven to be a successful practice before.
As others have pointed out, I do agree that writing is the singular most important thing to get right. Dreadwolf simply needs a well-structured narrative, great dialogue & a memorable cast of characters - anything less than that and I'll worry for real.
Keep up the good work Saria!
Ty 💕
Realistically DA4 is probably the last chance for Bioware to get something right. With ME4 being much earlier in development, my biggest fear is them failing again and being dissolved by EA. Can only hope that the lack of info means they are hard at work and that we will see something significant from them this winter.
With so many of my favourite game studios submitting to corporate mediocrity or wasting away into insignificance I don't really know how I'm going to handle it if Bioware goes the same way. Bioware stands at the epicentre of everything I love in gaming.
Bioware is not the same company you fell in love with, There is only a handful of people at Bioware left who worked on Dragon Age Origins. They all left as they saw the writing on the wall that Bioware is not long for this world.
I think the next Mass Effect will happen regardless how Dreadwolf ends up. But it will be nostaglia porn make no mistake.
@@adeptdamage3669 If Dragon Age is a flop, Bioware will be disbanded make no mistake. It will be the 3rd IP in a row to flop, Mass Effect Flopped, Anthem Flopped.
The Dragon Age Series is part of my life since I was sixteen (2009) when DAO was released (December 2009) my stepfather bought it for me as a early birthday present.
I am so grateful that he did despite me being too young to legally play it back in 2009.
I am forever grateful maybe I wouldn't even bought it years later it was the perfect time perfect place.
Needless to say DAO is my favourite game of all time and I would be more than just sad If DAD would be a mess of a game...
I am concerned and I wish to be wrong, I hope my doubts about DAD are misplaced.
I just hope all of us will fall in love with DAD I hope it'll be better than Inquisition or at least on the same level.
We're all praying it'll be good.
too young? what you'd have been old enough in australia as it was rated 15+. ah countries and their rating systems. and let us hope indeed.
@@smartgoku9048 not in Germany usk (pegi) 18
@@smartgoku9048 😂 in Germany many games are rated harshly compare to other countries, some games aren't even allowed here.
@@GreyWardenArlethaVakarian i'm not surprised some games use to never be able to get sold in australia until the R rating was brought in for games. the witcher 3 would have been one of those banned games, witcher 2 almost was.
sometimes i wonder if the people doing the rating even understand what their doing since they can get the ratings so very wrong sometimes.
I want your specialisation to be chosen from the start and make it actually a part of your character
I don’t want it to just be some extra abilities
It was nice that DAI did have companions mention it but if I’m a Templar, I want to be an actual Templar, I want my specialisations to mean something
Also fix your Damn bugs
Just last week I was hit with the bug that doesn’t let keep world states be imported and there is no fix for it
Or it will be nice to really join some group . get armor , abilities,Special interactions , reputation . Some side quest . Not just earn materials craft weapon and do some table mission for group u r associated with now . Maybe get some special training that unlocks whole tree ability by ability . Be able to get promotion in organisation
@@sinisterwitch9230 yeah I always felt cheap playing a warrior with the Templar specialisation, or a rogue with the bard or assassin
Because it felt like I was pretending to be one, at least Inquisition let a warrior who chose Templar actually have a Lyrium addiction, I know you never see your character take Lyrium but it’s implied you do
In origins and DA2 it felt more like you were just pretending to be one
It felt hallow and fake
@@dylanmackie8299 or when you play as mage specialists brought by inquisition doesnt teach you anything i wish we could ask questions that will expand lore . For example knight- enchanters - is this sword like fade magic ? You create barier by atacking is that sort of bllodmagic ? Will that lure demons? Can i shape my weapon other way than just sword ? Who rules enchanters? ok you are capitan what hierarchy is there ? Or necromancer tells us nothing about magic how it works etc ultimatum spell is time manipulation !!! Like wtf ? It suits dorian because of lore and his work with alexius but why i use some time manipulation i wanna control death its darkest magic school since they dont guve us blood magic and i am so dissapointed . Rift mages - how do u control that magic you need open rift to use it ? What if rifts are closed ? Whats the point of even learning that school ? How will it affect me ? Is it fade magic ? (Same that with enchanters)
Yeah, in DAO you got taught some skills by those companions, so it’s something, but still, it’s cheap
DA2 was super cheap, you just magically knew the stuff
DAI the fetch quests were annoying, super annoying but at least it felt like you earned it, and for Templar, it’s implied you are actually taking daily lyricism infusions just like real Templars
But even then, your not a Templar, just a guy taking the potion and using the abilities, you were never a part of the order
I want to play an actual Templar, someone who guarded a circle tower, or protected a chantry
I want to play an actual assassin, someone who took lives for coin
An actual bard, who travelled Orlais plying my trade for coin
The only thing that doesn’t concern me about Frostbite is that I would assume they’re probably more comfortable with the engine now that they’ve already built a lot of those things during Inquisition’s development (i.e. save-games and tactical camera). My hope is that over the last freaking decade or so that they’ve been working with Frostbite means that those struggles they had won’t be nearly as much of an issue.
My concerns really manifest in their ability to tell a compelling story that doesn’t retcon the past games more than they already have. I crave complicated and intriguing characters like Morrigan, Zevran, Isabela, Fenris, Iron Bull, and Dorian. I hope we see more gut-wrenching moments like the Broodmother and the creation of new darkspawn, Hawke’s mother’s death, and destruction of the Chantry in Kirkwall. I love characters and stories that invest us in the world and help us as players understand that the stakes are high and devastating things can and will happen, and we can see the direct ramifications of those events. I worry that DA has become so watered down that we’ll end up with nothing more than a bland, monotone bastardization of the games and the world we love so much.
I think the big thing that will save Bioware is if they took all the things we loved about Origins, DA2 and DAI and put them all in Dreadwolf and gave us almost limitless options in every aspect of the game. If it's just another rebranded Inquisition. It will be a huge let down. I personally don't want a ton of fetch quests. I prefer games that have story side quests. Not chores. Oh and they better have brought back Blood Magic for Mages. We are going to be in Tevinter after all.
EA argument against Singleplayer games is just a dull whine that when filtered through an audio processing device comes out to a toddler crying "but we wont more money for less creativity" they won't be able to monetize DA just like they failed to monetize StarWars Battlefront, even the FIFA fan base that was notorious for buying into the lootbox's is waking up to just how cheap this all is.
EA sticking their noses and imposing changes and ideas, uncertainty about Bioware having a close knit and experienced dev team for the scale of the project and lastly Frostbite, are for me the biggest reasons for concern.
Fall 2024-winter 2025, I’m calling it now. The project got cancelled and change single player, to MMO, to live service and back to single player.
I really hate how they retconned Loghain in DAi removing all the complexity of the character. "I feel bad for what I've done" removes all the layers of his choice. Yes, he feels bad for killing innocent soldiers, but he doesn't regret killing the king because it was the only way he could prevent engagement of Orlesian wardens.
bro what? he literally talks about how he fucked up when you recruit him in DAO
@@diobrando2160 I was speaking about his appearance in DAI.
It better succeed, i been waiting entirely too long 😭
Eight damn years at this point...goodness...
My guess is Joplin was cancelled for being too RPG focused (I.E. not enough ways to monetize players)
I'm certain whatever DA4 is upon release, it'll be closer to some sort of Action-Adventure. It will still probably be Single player, but it will be clear the focus was made more on monetization than telling a great story with interesting characters, plot, and immersion. This is EA at the end of the day, and the Bioware we grew up with and loved, died the day EA bought them.
Honestly I think inquisition is my least favorite of the series. And I think a large part of that was the disconnect I felt with the story and characters. Idk the larger than life thing is cool and all and it was fun to recruit so many ppl and see how big I could make the inquisition. But at the same time I just felt so….bland? Everyone felt more like they were begrudgingly there, like sure you could get along but it was more in a coworker way than an actual companion/friend way like it was in the past 2 games.
I think more than anything I really really want that feel of companions feeling like an actual party again as opposed to a group of ppl you hired who only tolerate each other (and possibly you) I know it’s objectively the worst but having a sort of “chaotic friend group“ like in da2 again would be so so nice.
And also finally giving the dalish their welsh accents. Pls let me play a dalish with their proper accent
Specially after Elden Ring had Welsh accents and everyone freaking loved them. There's no excuse to not include them!
I agreed wholeheartedly with the points given on this video; only adding of my personal opinion that my biggest concerns come from A. Most if not all of the original DA leads and acting team leads have left and/or been moved to another studio. B. The budget for DA:D has been not only change in the past pre-production, but also reduced. Origins is my favorite game of all time and I'll always be a fan at heart. But this might be the first Bioware installment in which I'll wait months after it's released to see how the market reacts to it
And for bug fixes to be hashed out. I try not to get hyped for games. That way I can by the anniversary edition with all/most bugs fixed, and all dlc included.
I was already let down by DAI so I'm going in with low expectations. If it's good it's good. If not, DAO and DA2 aren't going anywhere.
2 was a disappointment too
I hope that Dreadwolf slims a bit down with it's map sizes. Make smaller but more interesting maps. Hinterlands is a slough to get trough and the bears are far too strong, if you don't have fire damage for so early in the game. I once had a fight that took so long, that the next already respawnt. The Forbidden Oasis is a nightmare to navigate trough and lore wise it felt like a let down in the end. The Hissing Wastes were so empty. Dessert may be a nice setting, but not so empty and was.
They once announced that the game won't be a live service like they first said, but a true singleplayer game. Yet I fear that it will be one or something like a live service light. The idea behind the wartable to be the leader of the Inquisition was good, but it was just so frustrating.
And mostly, I'm not sure if they still have the team to make a game I'm interested. As example I don't think the creative director John Epler is the right person for Dragon Age. He once tweeted, 'Dragon Age is about hope, about how love and friendship are forces for good and about how, in the end, what we have is each other.' (It is from 2018, so thing can changed) And I think that is too one sided. Remember what an horrible person you could be in Origins? The city elf origin, where you could sell your cousin off for a night to a noble. Morrigan who asked you to kill her mother and the blackmail in the end. Have a baby, you are not allowed to see or you will die and I'm out of here. (The contrast between that and the love route for Morrigan + Witch Hunt is one of my favorite story from the franchise.) Dragon Age 2 was softer and Inquisition a softer then 2. I really loved how good, evil and grey the world was. It highlighted each element further. Even trough I could never be evil or mean. (Like really, how could you be mean to Alistair? Yes, he had to grow up a bit, but don't be mean D:). I already had a lot of problems with Andromedas writing, because it become a bit too 'political correct' and simply had many flaws. (With that I don't mean that I have a problem with Krem, who I think was a good side character or Suvi, gosh she is so cute. [But I would have liked it more if she would tell male Ryder that she is simply not interested in men in general] I mean that it was too soft. No possibility to be a bit Xenophobe in the beginning with the Angara after the meeting with the Krett or have any kind of conflict, besides the splinter group. It never truly felt like a first contact with a new species.) The conflict with the Outcasts was weak, because to be honest we did not see a lot of conflict. Also there was the biggest writing mistake I personally have ever seen. In one point of the Collective quest line on Kadara, Ryder tells out loud who the Charlatan is, in a god damn public bar! I know in the greater picture that is not a huge thing, but I absolutely hate it even till today, argh!
Big agree.
Larger maps don't make a better game. I want it to be exactly as large as they can fill to bursting with meaningful content.
The first time I played DAI, I quit because I wanted to get through Hinterlands content before tackling the main story and I just could not. The only map I hate more is the Hissing Wastes, because at least Hinterlands is pretty to look at.
At least if DAD lets us down, those of us who were saved from reality by dragon Age can still make terrible jokes about our daddy issues.
I dont know how to feel except that I hope EA stays the hell away from the production team - though I fundamentally understand we're well past that point
Fingers crossed they can pull it off but yeah I'm waiting till the games out before I make a decision on it
There's one single person that makes me optimistic for Dreadwolf and that's Patrick Weekes as lead writer. He was the lead writer for Trespasser, which I think was hands down one of the best DLCs in all of the dragon age games. And he also wrote Solas.
Bioware is just a shell of its former self. It'll take a lot on their part before I care again for their games.
I personally LOVE everything about Inquisition - not even part of that toxic hype or whatever. Never even heard of that until reading some comments. Honestly my only let down to the game - was maybe those "fantastic lizard mounts" - and the war table. I hate the whole "real time" thing. But everything else?? I've never been so lore invested in any of the dragon age games until Inquisition because it made me feel like i was *there*. Like in the Dales, you go and find a tent behind some rocks- some blood - and an abandoned teddy bear. You read the paper there and learn a family had been hiding trying to escape the civil war... and as the writing is run off the page with blood spatter you dont NEED anything else to know what really happened.
Its the small things like this that I've personally experienced in Inquisition that really makes the game alive for me. I cry more for characters i'll never meet, never see or experience - because of the fact they're already gone, or have suffered and are elsewhere now.
I agree that the maps are huge and it can be annoying to run to one end of the map to the other- like those blasted skull shards - i hate those too lmao. But because of those skull shards- I've found so many secrets like that one codex up above. Or the man in the cave in the hinterlands, arrows leading to a hole in the rock wall- a skeleton - and a man's last words asking for them to be delivered to his family.
It's the little things like that - that to me, - makes the BLOOD of Inquisition pump through the game.
Yes the main story was a bit short, that was the sad part. But Im not here to be like--- in Skyrim where everything is a main story line and you end up top dog of everything. Im here to be the Inquisitor - to seal the breach - find those responsible - and end this chaos. And in the main story line - you do exactly that. All those long and endearing side quests? That's the Inquisitor's JOB.
I am looking forward excitedly to Dread Wolf and the only thing I think should be an improvement would be ---- give the mounts better bodies and animations?? lmao. That's all I got. I even loved the multiplayer because it gave me the feeling of those rpg games I used to play growing up - no story needed, just level up a character and get on that grind son! but with friends and all dragon age themed.
Anyway, those be my 2 cents to add to the matter.
How many copies of DA will need to be sold for EA to consider the game a success? That's my concern. Thanks for the video. Take care and stay well.
Origins with all dlc is a perfect game. Probably one if my favorite rpgs of all time
I am on the desperately optimistic side, I want the game to succeed, I want it to have an incredible end and I dread (eh!) the idea that this last chance could be a failure.
Honestly the course Bioware is taking reminds me of Origin (the developers behind the Ultima series, a staple in rpg for pcs as far as I know, I urge all of you to inform about their downfall and see the resemblance) and I shiver, thinking this could be another Ultima 9.
On a side note, I hope they return to a more dark-fantasy oriented style of world building and storytelling like back in DA:O; DA:I felt more like epic fantasy, never have I felt like they did or would dare to punch me in the gut and make me uncomfortable (like Zaithran backstory or the discovery of Broodmothers, although both done mostly verbally).
I am not all that worried about the Frostbite engine being an enormous issue this time around since they have most models done since Inquisition.
As for the lack of updates I still hope they will release a trailer in november or right before christmas. It would fit timewise since the game is slated for release late next year no?
And finally I also think they need to simply make smaller quests better. Both Inquisition and Andromeda were horribly plagued by these quests and only the main story had any draw for many I imagine!
I pray they are on schedule and all is well. I would hope after eight long years. And possibly a few years of active development that they have a game at this point and we can look forward to Fall 2023 for the release.
I'm worried that is gonna be another Cyberpunk all over again. That they haven't done any actual work on the game and only focused on marketing the game.
What marketing? If they do less work on the game than their marketing, then this game is non existent :P
Im hopefully they can figure out if us the player can use blood magic if we chose a mage.
It's going to take place in Tivinter where everyone including their grandma practice blood magic so more likely yeah ?
I would think so considering the setting.
Dragon Age as a franchise may actually be doomed due to 2 big issues:
1- Both its creators (Mike Laidlaw & David Gaider), the mom and dad of Thedas, are long gone.
2- DA: Inquisition came out almost a decade ago. The franchise lost all mommentum.
At this point, I just want to know for sure what is inside the Black City, where does The Taint come from, and who/what is behind The Calling.
I actually think the release of tiny updates is meant to make us think they are behind/on schedule, when in fact they are far ahead of schedule. This is to provide their team with plenty of time to make the game and squash as many major bugs as possible before the deadline. They made a commitment to never invoke BioWare Magic again, and this deception might be part of how BioWare is creating more time and space for itself to work.
Live-action game? You mean live-service? Yeah, the way EA sees it, even if Dragon Age turns a profit, they still consider that lost revenue through opportunity cost. They would rather have their studios spend their time making low overhead games that make players want to spend money constantly and that exceed the typical $60-$90 an RPG would rake in. EA doesn't care how the fans view the company. They are only in it for the money.
Here are my five reasons:
1. Wokeness. Keep real-world politics out of it. Don't try to cater to real-world social groups. And on topics that have parallels to real-world politics, at least give players the CHOICE to agree, disagree, ignore the issue entirely, or have no opinion about it. And most of all, DO NOT alter the established lore to appease real-world minorities. The Qun has always had non-negotiable rules regarding biological sex and the gender roles associated with them. That shouldn't change now just because BioWare wants to cater to an extreme minority of the population or virtue signal to their cohorts.
2. Not including the Hero of Ferelden. Having the Hero sit out during Inquisition made sense. But now the entire world is being threatened. The Hero MUST make a cameo in DA4, or else I won't be buying the game. BioWare cannot continue the story of Dragon Age without at least showing us that our Heroes are still a part of this world. Even a dead Hero should have a tomb/shrine at Weisshaupt dedicated to him or her, and that counts as a cameo appearance. Meanwhile, the Orlesian Warden-Commander fills the dead Hero's role in searching for the cure. And this is where the real cameo comes in. Have the Hero/WC show up at Weisshaupt to help deal with the problems there and share knowledge of the cure for the taint. Then have the Hero/WC leave after that quest to go cure the red lyrium spreading in Ferelden and elsewhere. This gives the Hero both a reason to not be in the rest of the game, and a proper role to play in helping stop Solas indirectly by neutralizing the red lyrium with the cure.
3. New BioWare. It can't be denied that the BioWare that created Origins, 2, and Inquisition no longer exist. Most people in BioWare have been replaced by new people. And even Patrick Weekes, who has been part of the series for a while, has had a dramatic shift in attitude in recent years. So the question is if these new people understand what Dragon Age is all about. The comments from some of them make me doubt that very much. So we might be getting a new Dragon Age that is nothing like the previous games.
4. All about Solas. The teaser has Varric saying this is our story. I hope BioWare sticks to that concept. Dragon Age is supposed to be the story of our protagonists, but BioWare lost sight of that in DA2 when they made the protagonist locked to just a single origin character with no real way for players to influence who Hawke was as a person. Yeah, sex and skin color and class, and even appearance were customizable, but it was always the same origin and even the personality wasn't that customizable. Hawke's choices also didn't seem to matter much aside from affecting the fates of companion characters, most of which were never heard from again. And those who were heard from again end up where they are regardless of Hawke's influence. In other words, Hawke felt like BioWare's character, and I fear they will make the same mistake, only with Solas this time around. Naming the game "Dreadwolf" only cements that fear. This should not be Solas' story. This should be the story of how out new protag thwarts him, or at least mitigates the damage he'll do.
5. Unmet expectations. We have now gone longer without a Dragon Age game than the entire lifespan of the series, from release of Origins to release of Trespasser. Not only is that unacceptable from a gamer standpoint, but it makes us expect more from this game since it has taken so long to make. Add to this the fact that Dragon Age lore has the most potential than any other series out there. Fans have come up with numerous interesting plots and ideas for DA4, and I doubt anything BioWare has come up with with match the ideas of the fanbase. In fact, with the introduction of titans, and now the hidden underground grey liquid experiment chambers, and the ancient monsters, and the evanuris, etc., it just seems like BioWare is loading up the series with big ideas that won't be fully realized in the game. Meanwhile, existing plots will go by the wayside, such as the plot with Urthemiel, or Morrigan, or the cure that the Hero has likely found.
I hope that's true
I agree with your observations here but I'd challenge your first point, because DAO included plenty of propaganda (to use the word in its original meaning) to appease certain social groups, but you were probably part of the groups being pandered to which is why you never noticed. I also don't think you can deny that real-world politics already serve as the basis for every existing conflict in the DA universe, so it is absurd to all of a sudden want real-life politics out of the series just because you personally feel offended or bothered in some way.
By that logic Bioware should take slavery and servitude out of the story, they should stop making references to feudalism and monarchies, and oppressive systems should be reframed so that they cannot possibly allude to real-world oppression in any way, lest they remind anyone of "real world politics." While we're at it, let's make every character sexless, genderless and asexual to be on the safe side. It's also problematic to speak of wars, armed conflict, and so on... You get my point I'm sure. Without real-life politics and ideologies we obviously don't have much to work with in terms of art, unless you want to make something extremely abstract or transformative. But DA has never been that, it was a fairly generic medieval-fantasy setting if we're being honest, and that format has 1. been done before and 2. inherently borrows real-world political and ideological modes of thinking. I don't think you or anyone else in the fanbase wants some truly "out there" postmodern narrative from this series precisely because the world has been built on these existing real-world concepts, and we know what to expect by now.
I try not to assume ill intent here but in my experience the "no real-world politics!!" complaint almost always boils down to "this character has a skin color or sexuality I don't like" which is just a form of petty virtue signalling but in another direction. Similarly, outright *excluding* social groups from a medium is also just another form of "social justice pandering" but in the opposite direction you're used to. If the mere existence of some benign idea, political reference or even just a type of person is enough to upset someone, I don't think they're going to make it far in the real world, and especially if it upsets them because it's included in a *fictional* world.
In my view, DAI was a step up when it came to letting the player agree/disagree/defer judgment on choices. As I said earlier, DAO did plenty of catering to sociopolitical ideas but I as a character didn't even have an option to disagree because the ideas were so baked into the narrative that they were barely even questioned. Most forms of sociopolitical propaganda are covert in that way, meaning they're intrinsic parts of characters, locations and narratives instead of outright "choices" that you have an input on.
You use the Qun as an example here, which is interesting because their in-game mode of society is pretty overt in real-world political and philosophical references. I'm sure I don't have to go into why a "rigid view of gender roles" is one of the oldest forms of political propaganda and it has always pandered to a minority social group in the real world. In terms of narrative consistency I don't want them to retcon this or any other part of the lore for that matter, but we should be honest and be able to admit that the original conception of Qunari society is already "catering to certain social groups."
TL;DR: the Dragon Age series are inherently loaded with sociopolitcial ideas and the reason people seem to notice them in different games at different times is because they are not the ones currently being pandered to.
@@doomed_user76 okay so I would state that DAI had more choices but it had less consequences for those choices, which is my complaint on DAI. I would state that the Qunari are meant to be an alien type of society. They never really pandered to me but I did always want to find out more because of how strange the Qunari were to me, and from what I could tell even in the original game they were stated in a neutral light with their flaws being shown in DA2 which was the only part I liked about the game (knowledge) tbh; tldr What about Qunari society is already "catering to certain social groups."?
PS does this make sense
@@doomed_user76 You're arguing that Sten's firm stance on gender roles was propaganda to the audience? Eh, I doubt BioWare was trying to pander to misogynists with that. More likely BioWare was trying to demonstrate how strange and backward the Qunari's rules were. In other words, they were using the Qun as an example of something bad. They wanted players to think, "Women aren't allowed to be soldiers under the Qun? Booooo the Qun!" And when you think about it, Sten does get proven wrong at least twice. He can challenge a female Warden in combat and LOSE, and he can witness a woman find his lost sword for him (to which he complements her). But I think the point was to show how restrictive and anti-freedom the Qun is.
Yeah but slavery is universally condemned in the real world. Feudalism and monarchies are rejected in the real world. BioWare is covering topics to which there is no other side to make valid arguments. It's like including rape or murder in their plots. No one argues those things are good. Therefore there is no political discussion to be had there. What fans refer to when they say to keep real world politics out of it is don't preach to us about so-called "trans rights", or fat acceptance, or the patriarchy, or illegal aliens, or skin color prejudice, etc. Or at least, if you do, then also do two things. 1. Make it relevant to the plot in an interesting or entertaining way. 2. Give us the option to voice disagreement with it and present the other side, and also give us the option to ignore it or even skip over it.
Having real life things in a game isn't the same as including real world politics. Even having in-game politics isn't the same as having real world politics. You can have lords, armies, and rival factions, because those things can logically exist in that fantasy world. Nothing wrong with that. We're talking about real world political issues. It would be like if DA4 had a quest centered around what's going on in Ukraine and having parallels to Putin or Zelensky, and then only presenting one side of the issue to make political statements. Imagine if BioWare had Tevinter trying to annex Nevarra and we were only allowed to side with Nevarra because clearly they're the "right" side because of this, that, or the other reason. I mean, can you imagine if Inquisition came out after 2016? Even some within the fanbase were trying to equate Corypheus with Trump years after the game launched.
Well that's the thing, Dragon Age has always had characters of various skin colors. It has always had characters who were homosexual and bisexual, but it was never made an issue of. So no one sees any of that as political, and we are saying that it should stay that way.
No, excluding some groups makes sense if they don't fit within the world of Thedas logically. What if I were to start complaining to BioWare about the lack of Christian representation in Dragon Age? They might come back and say that the Chantry is based off of Catholicism, but then I could say that's not good enough. BioWare needs to include storylines about Jesus Christ being the Son of God and being sent to Earth (a parallel world to the Dragon Age universe) to die for the sins of all people in existence, and that what people call The Maker is actually the Judaeo-Christian God of The Bible. AND, don't give players the choice to disagree with this new development. Do you really think BioWare would alter the storyline of Dragon Age to accommodate my requests? Or do you think they would say my demands don't fit the story Dragon Age is trying to tell? That's the response we want from BioWare when these fringe minority groups come-a-bellyaching to them about representation in video games.
No, you don't have to go into it, because the Qun proves my point. It has rigid views of gender roles, and the player is given options to disagree. Also, the Qun is portrayed in the game as being bad. So if anything, BioWare was trying to virtue signal about not shoving people into gender roles, but even in this the issue is not preachy or in your face about it because the Qun is also depicted as odd, confusing, and foreign to the country your character lives in. If BioWare changes the Qun to take the opposite stance, then it will be because real world politics bled into the game.
Again, we don't have any problems with political issues being in the game. The problem is real world issues being preached to us through the game. If BioWare is going to include a real world political issue in the game then, 1. It should be so relevant to the plot that it seems like it arises naturally from the story itself rather than real world events or statements the writers want to make, and 2. We should not have the issue preached to us. We should be given the choice to agree, disagree, have no opinion, or ignore it entirely. That in itself makes the issue non-political in nature.
@@BelieveIt1051 I'll try to condense most of my points as much as possible because a lot of it has already been said, but long paragraphs inbound
1. I'm not concerned with whether the narrative condemns or praises something connected to real world politics because propaganda has nothing to do with "good or evil," it's simply a tool. To me, I don't view the "rigid gender role" thing as pandering to "misogynists" rather it signals to a much larger audience than that. You don't need to be an outright woman-hater to be subconsciously or outright drawn to these types of hierarchies.
2. Slavery, feudalism and monarchism are not at all universally condemned, in fact it is still widely practiced and many people yearn for the return of it. It might be abolished or condemned where you and the Bioware developers live for example, which is why it doesn't feel "political" or challenging to most player's sensibilities. But it is still overtly political.
3. It's a fallacy to compare religious groups to sexual minorities (which I assume you mean by the "trans rights" comment) because one is a moral, theological and sometimes political identity while the other is by most accounts either a biological or inherent identity. The Chantry is a good parallel for religious people I imagine, I personally quite like having an in-game faith-based allegory. Similarly, I imagine sexual minorities (who, by the way, make up a huge portion of this community) probably like to have more role-playing options where they are represented. It's not much deeper than "company wants player base to be reflected" because it's a reasonable strategy both marketing wise and community-building wise. Also you admit sexual minorities have always been part of the DA universe but "never made an issue out of it" so I don't see the point. They fit into the world "logically" because they were never excluded in the first place.
4. You've noticed the Qun is portrayed as "bad" in several ways which proves my point about the ideological slant of the narrative - the notion that individualism and personal freedom is the default good while the Qun is a backwards, collectivist alien philosophy is a good example of pandering to a western audience for example. Which makes sense, because that is where the series was made and developed - I'm not saying this is good or bad, but we should be honest enough to say these games were ALWAYS political. This is where DA has done a good job in my opinion, because the Qun conflict is overt enough (at least on a surface level) that the player has room to agree or disagree.
I understand but disagree with what you're trying to say with your last point. The issue is that I don't think you and those who agree will ever be satisfied. There will always be some decision or small in-game quip that sets off your "you made it political!" alarm bells, even if it makes sense to the story. What is the actual difference between "including political issues in the game" versus "preaching to the player about political issues?" Personally, you probably know where that line is drawn, but opinions are very split once you start asking people this question - I have seen many who get legitimately *triggered* by a trans character merely acknowledging that they're trans, while others say that hiding or not mentioning a trans identity is an attempt to "sneak ideology into the game."
You see, there is no correct way for Bioware to handle this other than ripping the band-aid off by simply stating "this is a trans character," which easily gets clumsy writing-wise but it's straight to the point and leaves no room for ambiguity about a character's identity. I'm putting emphasis on trans identity here because I have a sneaking suspicion that this is what you and others are actually upset about, since you seem to dismiss other political references such as feudalism, slavery, misogyny, monarchism, collectivism vs individualism and so on. To me, these issues are a lot more interesting to critically examine in a story than some random non-playable character's sexual or gender identity.
As somewhat of a side note, the player had plenty of room to be an asshole (if we're being blunt here) about both sexual and gender identity in DAI. What I mean when I speak of covert ideological propaganda in the series are those moments where we *cannot* agree, disagree or ignore the issue because it is inherently part of the structure of the narrative. So I've been agreeing with your point that there needs to be an option for the player to voice their in-game or real-world view. It's more interesting that way even just from a role-playing perspective. The point of contention is that I think we have always had that option for doing that with the more overt political themes presented in the game.
At the end of the day, most of the "this is too woke" criticisms stem from the panic felt by aging gamers once they realize they no longer hold the position as the primary consumer of the medium, in other words it's a fear of getting old and losing social capital. Just another generation that bites the dust by falling for a new manufactured identity-politics culture war. Sometimes it's not much deeper than "Bioware knows where the wind is blowing and makes an informed marketing decision in response."
EA doesn't like RPGs
EA buys BioWare
wtf memeface
All I want is to see my Warden and Morrigan together with Kieran as a family just one time. I don’t care how it’s done or when it’s done, I just want it to happen and I will be forever satisfied.
The feeling of playing through Origins for the first time was special. I want to go back 😭
Honestly I’m going into DAD and the next Mass Effect with low expectations. I don’t want to disappoint myself by being unrealistic. I really haven’t been looking into the development for the next games that much. I don’t think that anything will compare to the classic games, that’s why I’m just going with the flow. Whatever direction BioWare is going with these next installments, I’m just going to enjoy the games for what they are and be happy that I’m still getting new additions to my favorite game franchises. Sometimes that’s all one can do.
I can see it happening. All we would need to do is design our Warden to represent our Warden in the DAO like we did with Hawk in DA:I.
@@ReveredDead True. I have seen concept art for the Grey Wardens for DA:D.
My hope is that the Warden will have been successful in finding a cure for the calling and will make an appearance at some point during the game alongside his family.
Still, I am keeping expectations low.
That's not canon though. Some people chose Alastair, some Loghain to have the baby with Morrigan. You'd have to create it for all 3 of them and that's a lot of work. Even more so if Loghain went into the Fade.
@@cmdr.jabozerstorer3968 Yeah, I know. A man can dream though.
My biggest concern and probably the reason I don't go back to do even more play throughs is how janky some of the animation is in cutscenes, really can take you out of how epic moments can feel when cassandra is going to lean on her sword and her entire body just moves inhumanly. Probably a long shot and I doubt if it was an issue I wouldn't know it on the first playthrough of whatever comes next but fingers crossed.
Hell, I'd be happy if when the characters walk, they aren't bow-legged or look like they're constipated. That would be a step up.
Please give us the option to look at the whole dialog instead of just two to three words.
Such a long time between game developments always bodes poorly for not only the final result of the game having been scrapped, re-done, and scrapped again, but also a distancing on the lore and world they carefully crafted way back when.
I'm not an expert by any means, but i need only look in the past to see this may very well be the last of our beloved franchise simply because...
It's E.A. It's become synonymous with 'devourer' because of how many studios it's taken into its fold and literally swallowed whole. I'm already concerned Bioware's been gutted as is since it's heart-wrenching buy out. And frankly, why shouldn't we be concerned? E.A. has never done anything to dissuade people but instead encourage actively terrible responses.
We'll see if they somehow, someway pull something off but I doubt it won't involve microtransactions. I will be amazing surprised and speak praises if it doesn't.
Critics should watch this particular project closely. I'm already calling it that they flop. I would love to be wrong.
The only real chance is for the Dragon Age rights to be sold to another company, as long as EA and Bioware are involved with this there can be no realistic hope for this being good.
Well hopefully everything works out and the game is a great success. I know I am looking forward to it.
Dragon age 2 was a regression, in all things. The combat system is far more enjoyable in origins.
EA is actually finally letting the team be a bit and dragon age dreadwolf WILL NOT be live service anymore
Coming back to this, you talk about a gang of spies going into the Tevinter Imperium. They turned it into Dragon Age Absolution. No wonder it felt like the whole cast of characters there was more to them but somehow cut short.
When the color palette of electric purple and the name Dreadwolf was dropped, I wasn't intrigued. The crumbling font really conveys the idea that BioWare/EA is letting the franchise fall around them. The official title seems too on the nose. Naming it after the big bad? The official title really seems to clash with the previous installments of Origins, Exodus (DA2 before EA interfered and said no one will get that it's a sequel), and Inquisition. I'd rather the game be called Absolution, instead of giving that title away to a Netflix special. The worst thing to ever happen to Dragon Age was letting EA but the franchise. Trying to be optimistic, but Inquisition fell flat after The Witcher III and the meaningful game play it offered by comparison. Can't help but think Dreadwolf is constantly playing catch up.
To be honest I don't even know if another Dragon Age game is worth it. Obviously, I don't have any information on the game itself but I just don't want Bioware to destroy itself like it nearly did with Dragon Age Inquisition's development. Should they make whatever cash-grab crap that EA wants out of them? I wish I could say no but I guess it's up to Bioware at this point. Play it safe or bet it all on black; I just hope that they get what they want out of it.
I just want a solid main story and companion quests, I don't want a bunch of side quests that really don't matter to my character or story. In DAO and ME1, I loved feeling like I had a place in the universe; that I had a story before this. Party Banter was always my favorite thing in these games, its usually what got me through the side quests and made me want to play more. For me DAI had some good party interactions and quests, I enjoyed all of the companions in one way or another. I was just a bit disappointed that it felt like I didn't have alot of impact while as the Inquisitor, no major changes would happen if I made different decisions. And again a little sad that my background didn't have more explaining/ narrative (I played a dalish elf for my first playthrough in DAI)
(I haven't played DAI Trespasser yet, just haven't had the time recently)
I understand DA2's criticism but I absolutely loved the game. It made the slow paced battle system more epic with fantasy based speed and fighting styles, the story had a more condensed specific route but still gave you the chance to make decisions that would effect the whole game. I feel like DA2 deserves another shot maybe a remake giving it the open world treatment but have just be within Kirkwall and certain areas around the Free March's kind of like Haven city in Jak 2 and certain areas outside the city (just quite larger obviously 🤣🤣🤣).
I would love a remaster of DAO and 2 over a new game anyway, given the poor rep that companies attached to EA have.
Main reason I am worried is Inquisitions big boring zones, lack of level scaling, and the war room timers. :P
While DAII had a lack of variety in locations, its focus on characters and lack of boring sections makes it the game I've enjoyed replaying the most.
When EA buys a talented studio and makes all future games tasteless and slick. no risk taking.
All the problems boil down to Upper Manglement, if you ask me.
You forgot the main concern - the level of writing. It dropped significantly starting from DAI. It was so horrible compared to the previous bioware games, that it sounded more like Xena: Warrior Princes than like bioware game.
My main concern is if they are going to put wokeism in the game. It has killed multiple games, like the Saints Row franchise and Mass Effect: Andromeda, for instance.
I loved DAO to the bones and I still call it my favourite game of all times in spite of having played video games since the first half of the nineties. When I preordered DA2 I was shipped a console game and only half developed, with a sad simplified console system itemization. I didn’t bother to order inquisition, I simply checked it was still developed around consoles and passed forward. EA can go with all the lives services and consoles they want, I am dropping most AAA titles and only paying money for indie games
I respect the effort that Bioware team put to make RPG game work on Frostbite, but I do believe that stating that DAI did well on Frostbite is putting it a bit too generous.
I really don’t know why people hated dragon age 2 so much. It wasn’t my favourite of the games but I still really enjoyed it, but I see so many people shitting on it
i think lack of clear vision and direction is a warning signs of DA4 might be another failure of bioware. when u conceive something good in u, it shows as unwieding confidence. why bioware scrapped their ongoing project several times? that shows their visions are not strong enough
Something not mentioned that pretty much confirms that this game is not gonna be good, is the fact that, After Joplin was cancelled it was noticed that, all the Bioware Veterans that made Dragon Age what it is today, Like Mike Mothereffing Laidlaw, the man himself, David Gaider the lead writer, Mark Darrah The creative Director of Dragon Age Origins, Aaron Flyyn who is the studio head, Jacques Lebrun who is the engine programmer and tech director on the Dragon Age series, had all left, with Mike Laidlaw who was the creative director at the time specifically leaving because of Joplin's cancellation. The people who gave you the story, the world and the characters are no longer there and are not even being consulted. If you still have hope for not just this game but Bioware in general, You are heading into a very dark corridor with no evidence of light at the end. I have just listed just a few of the dpeatures and they are all big deals. Bioware is now chuck full of so many unqualified staff, it's ridiculous to expect anything of quality from them at this point. I speculate that this game will release as a buggy mess, the story and dialogue will be cringe, There will be americanised socio-politics and then when things get too heated, EA Shuts down Bioware. End of discussion.
Dragon age is part of my life since 2019 (Sorry my english i am from Brazil i am good only in understend what is Said)
Since BioWare was first bought by EA I grieved that Dragon Age would never have another game. The fact that BioWare is still making RPGs makes me happy, EA is always going to want to monetize everything they can especially as Fortnight has been making money hand over fist! As long as BioWare doesn't ruin the game in EAs need for the mighty dollar I have no problem waiting. Inquisition took like 10 years before it got done. As long as the Dragon Age game stay good, I'm good!
i personally think bioware need to take control of dragon age and possibly put dragon age dreadwolf on hold and remaster origins as a way to get back into contact with their own community
Great vid!
However, you did forget about ME legendary edition which sold extremely well.
I was not a fan of DA Inquisition personally.
even Anthem sold really well compared to their competitors. BioWare does not have a problem monetarily, its usually the studios management/EA’s view of them that prohibits progress for these games
Yeah, I'm getting very fed up with EA. I'm not a fan of MMO gaming and will probably never pay for such a game. They loose money by forcing that out instead of anything good.
My main want for DA:Dreadwolf is this. A simple way to load an DA:I savegame into a new game, not having to go through all of the Dragon Age Keep crap. I've handled game play changes before. I trust Bioware to handle the game story well.
When developers, and gamers in general, become dismissive of single player games, then I tend to become dismissive of them in turn because they obviously don't know what they're talking about.
There is a *high* demand for a good single player game experience... and unfortunately for the likes of EA and other developers who tend to prefer shady and predatory loot boxes/microtransactions, it requires an effort that they just don't want to expend.
I don’t like how they locked weapons to class starting in 2. I would like to be able to wield a 1 handed sword with no shield if i choose, or dual wield.
I hope Bioware makes it through
I have no faith in Bioware anymore; they have not produced a single truly great game since Mass Effect 2 (which even that had some serious problems). DAO was one of the greatest games ever made; DA2 and DAI the best part of the games was when it was referencing characters or stories from the 1st game (which was mostly produced before EA bought them).
Mass Effect 3 and DAI had some potential but were seriously flawed games; and they have only gotten worst since then.
Hell look at the disastrous launch of Star Wars: The Old Republic's 7.0. They'd promised a year to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the MMO, massive gameplay overhaul and loads of new content. Nothing happened until February, two months after the official 10th anniversary and they couldn't even release the whole thing. Gameplay nerfs that everyone complained about in PTS that was ignored, a disappointing two hours of content, bugs galore, and a new gearing system that nobody liked.
Every other comment in this video blames EA for Bioware's misfortunes but not everything that's gone wrong with this company should be laid at their feet.
@@rebellyanmagic6409 I gave up on TOR. I hate MMOs in general and TOR doesn't offer enough single player content to justify the grind. Plus basically everything since knights of the eternal empire has been underwhelming at best and broken lore at worst.
To be fair though Bioware produced almost nothing but gold until EA took over so while 100% can't be laid at EAs feet they certainly played a big part in the environment and direction of bioware
Theres no talent left in the company I want it to be good so bady but Origins was the last game bioware made that didn't come with glaring flaws
All valid points, the only thing i would say is what would a dragon age live game look like? FF14? ESO? Like I think seeing a live version of the dragon age universe is not super far fetched an idea. Infact it would be pretty cool to have a dragon age game to play with your friends while you wait for the next single player game. Especially when some of them take a decade. Not to mention the roleplay, customization, and new audience those games can bring in. I know tons of people who never played a FF game before until FF14 and are now playing or have gone back and played the older single player games, the newer ones, and now await the latest installment coming out real soon. Dragon age also has plenty of eras in its history that make alot of sense for an MMO. Like the Second Blight which lasted like 90 or so years something like that. I get not everyone here would be like woo a multiplayer game, but to say its hard to imagine one is far from the reality of the situation. And FF14, SWTOR, Guild Wars 2, ESO have all proven that MMO's or basically Online RPG's can tell really strong stories.
As someone that only plays Inquisition/Mass Effect games for the dungeon crawler multiplayer aspect it confuses me why they're choosing to ditch the feature in dreadwolf if it could technically be seen as live service with the loot crates for irl money and they could make new missions/playable characters as a dlc drops in the future. Not saying the current iterations of either games multiplayer is perfect by any means but not having it at all just removes there options for long term money and leaves it all up to the box price.
The company that made Origins does not exist anymore unfortunately
I am extremely skeptical about bioware's take on this game. Especially since all the OG's are gone.
But I also know people will try to bash things about the game no matter how good it is or isn't.
You remember when people who must've never played a bioware game before complained about "facial animations" in adromeda? like that was ever a thing bioware was good at? I spent 1000+ hours in that game. The multiplayer was really fun. The game play was really fun. The story was great. Yet... all these negative reviews because this one lady's face was tired lol.
Still. EA and bioware should've kept the game track the way it was going. INCLUDING the multiplayer elements. And I know that's considered a controversial opinion. But I play a 11 year old game that has been updated every few months. Adding new stories. Lore. I played the inquistion multiplayer a whole lot. It was really fun. I DO like that you can play the game alone but I can play alone in the bioware multiplayer game that I play rn. I like to be able to play with other people, too. And when I don't like those people I press the ignore button and never hear from them again.
end rant.
In regard to the engine the listings for the next Mass Effect shows signs that they swap back over to using UE for future productions thanks to the successful title that Respawn made with the Star Wars games. Also the Titanfall games run on a heavily modified Source engine as it’s core.
I hope Bioware understands that the story is what sells Dragon Age before everything else. Dragon Age Inquisition had this huge open world where no quests of importance happened, it was quite awkward, also kind of sad given they did huge efforts to build the map. Trespasser was so good, I never saw such a good ending to a game, everything in all the franchise finally comes together, the Blight, Morrigan and her mother, etc. With that ending, it's hard to make a bad sequel story out of it, the plot is great.
I can only hope they focus on Solas, not on some side kick vilain like Coreypheus who really feels like a distraction, he was a generic vilain recycled from DA2 that didn't add much to the world's story.
Finally, I hope the companions are at the center of the story, I love deep companions that affect the main plot.
I absolutely despise EA as a video game publisher. Corporate greed is destroying RPGs as a genre.
When the previous lead said that dragon is about friendship and love and overcoming evil together, I lost all hope. That is not what dragon age was ever about. Bedause duh you can fucking make evil characters, have strained relationships and betray and be betrayed by love interests.
They haven’t shown us hardly anything and every few months someone big leaves the company…aint looking good at all
EA need to back the hell off, none of these issues existed before EA took over Bioware, DA origins was developed before EA bought them out and they spent over ten years building the game.
I'm actually also concerned about the art direction. The weapons and armor in the games look progressively more ridiculous, where in the case of DA:I I can't even see a modicum of functionality anymore in the designs. What's DA4 going to look like? Mall Ninja gothic weapns with spikes on spikes on spikes? lol.
Most of the DAI weapons you can use are shaped awkwardly or have holes literally in the center of the blade. Like...what? Many of the armor designs have small plates of armor in certain areas but lack significant protection showing over vital areas - which honestly is a huge issue in many RPGs in general and is a tremendous source of frustration. Having tassets/hip armor but with zero crotch protection, and only a single metal plate over the upper pectorals leaves most of your front body completely vulnerable. alternative armor choices like gambison or leather don't even exist, its just cloth instead.
So yeah. That's my concern, actually.
However, I have the sinking suspicion that soon we will either see a cancellation of the game, or news of an actual release date, and sadly, the former seems more likely at this rate.
Given the drama between devs/staff for this game getting way too comfy with intruding on fandom spaces on Twitter, I doubt that any real original ideas or less insensitive themes/portrayals will be on the table. This just beyond not having faith in the shaky nature of their writing team or the gameplay. 🤷🏽
DA2 did not improve combat, it made it action controller button mashing.....great if on console crap if on PC
I want so badly for this game to be co-op in some way. I loved the older games and ever since then I've played Destiny as my main game. I have a bunch of friends that would totally play DA4 if it was co-op.