Dragon Age

I mean, firing Mary Kurby and treating her like shit was my last straw with the franchise.

I'll keep an eye on the game, but if it's good it's going to be inspite of itself more than anything.

They fired Lukas Kristjanson, too. Firing more than one member of senior staff can never bode well for the future.

I personally don't hold great hopes for DA:D, but I may get surprised.

Somewhere in 2012, Bioware started to tone down things that I personally liked about their old games (like Origins).

.................

Like the Featureless Protagonist with no personality but what the player set, no voice but the spoken lines, and no name but his job title (though Aedocan,Cousland and Shepard were exceptions)

I actually like that; it allows me to play the game like a Choose Your Own Adventure book, I define the protagonist and choose how he interacts, and the story changes depending on those choices.

It allows me some replay value too; my Warden on a playthrough could be a Paladin-like knight, always pious and religious, a Robin Hood-like figure with sarcastic lines, a shy and polite mage, etc.

I can base them around a popular character in a movie or book, or around a fantasy character archetype or a fantastic version of my own personality, or a mixture of two or all of the above.

Yes, it was not perfect; the choices were artificial, and you get the But Thou Must! a lot, but it was something.

Then, around 2010, Ladlaw and Gaider diceded that this is no longer the way they wanted me to play their games. First, it was the voiced protagonist with three lines (bland, snarky and aggressive), and all I had to do was choose a line based on the icon without even knowing what "I" was going to say.

Then even that was not all, and the protagonists started to have back-and-forth dialogues without any input from the player.

Then the protagonists got a name, and definite backstory and characters will use those names to refer to me, so instead of Warden or Jedi, I am now Hawk, Trevelyan, Shepard and Rider, whether I like it or not, and soon even the first name will be chosen for me.

The protagonist now has a set personality that I no longer control, and my choices don't matter that much.

I am no longer creating a character; I am controlling someone that Bioware created. There is a difference for me.

....................

Aside from personality, there was also the removal of gameplay options.

I am the type of player who likes to customize my own States, Skills, Feats and Spells, in my own way and come up with strange combinations (maybe beneficial, maybe not).

This is no longer possible. Bioware is like, "Don't bother your tiny brain thinking of all those big scary numbers or those walls of text; we do your thinking for you"

That is why, in Inquisition, I can't customize my states, for example, or choose my own initial spells. The game does it for me. All I have to do is choose 1-2 spells per level.

It was said at the time that Bioware hoped to attract more casual players who were intimidated because of the "complicated" RPG mechanisms of the first game.

I don't know if it is true, but as it happen, I like the Dungeons and Dragons customization, and I like to do more than just press Left Button/A, and I did not appreciate the toning down.

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Long story short, Bioware wants to make games where I play as a static character over which I have minimum control, which is in their right, and there are players who swear by that approach, but personally, that is not my cup of tea.

As for DA:D, the lesson Bioware would have taken from experience is that what they need to make the game work is more cinematic and better graphics, with the story and choices being a second.

The best that DA:D can be is like Inquisition without platforming and climbing, which will be good and may help Bioaware, though even that target is hard, considering that many of the writers and artists working on the setting since the beginning have changed.

Edited by jawal on Jan 12th 2024 at 12:10:40 PM

So in the first game, you need both an empty vial and an Elfroot in order to create a lesser health potion.

I always wondered what happened to the empty vials once my character drank the potion, since it seemed to disappear, and I needed to buy a new one.

Thankfully, I found this video, which answered my question in a satisfactory fashion.

reminds me of how dragon age has so many different kinds of poison and grenades but I dont think I ever used them

Edited by Ultimatum on Feb 4th 2024 at 5:56:07 PM

I think you mean poultice. You use a vial and elfroot to make a poultice. Which is absolutely a thing that comes in vials.

And is then drank.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Feb 4th 2024 at 12:44:08 PM

I meant what I said

Doesn't Krem make fun of Bull just for that? His tendency to drink poultices?

Yeah, during the drinking session with the Chargers. Man, these guys were so underdeveloped, sadly.

I did'nt save them,thus

Iron Bull betrayed me!

Well, you did tell him loyalty to the Qun is more important than loyalty to his friends.

It does show just how good Bull is at manipulating others and pretending to be something he isn't. Especially if you romance him.

Gaming journalist Jeff Grubb states that BioWare is "pretty confident" that Dreadwolf will release in late 2024. This would basically be a decade after Inquisition.

Grubb is not an official source, but his takes have been more or less accurate so far.

"Pretty confident" is not a very confident phrase.

Man, Inquisition still feels like it was quite recently ago.

I finished my 2nd playthrough like a week ago

as an elf mage!

Jeff Grubb is the greatest Forgotten Realms author ever. Hire him.