The Blanketfort (crying and throwing up) - The Official Solas Thread [Spoilers]

Wow so they haven't even started development yet? I just assumed they had! At this rate we'd see the longest time gap between Dragon Age games ever by a large margin. It seems like an odd choice since like you said, there won't be the same difficulties they had with DAI while moving to a new engine.

I'm starting to get a bit bitter towards this new IP already and we have no clue what it even is. 

I'd be very surprised if they left the next instalment as long as 2020; that would be 6 years after the release of the original game and 5 years from Trespasser DLC. I know it was that long from the release of ME3 to MEA but the former had completed the storyline for that trilogy and they also had to work with the new engine.

DA4 will presumably still be using Frostbite, so they won't have that to contend with, they haven't got to develop a whole new storyline because DG admitted that all the elements were already there for DAI, they just didn't have the development time to do the entire thing in one game, so DA4 ought to be the rest of what we didn't get, in other words wrapping up the Solas storyline. Even with new plotlines and characters, that shouldn't take as long as even DAI took to develop, let alone MEA.

It would also make commercial sense to bring out DA4 fairly quickly because they know they have got guaranteed sales, so it is worth putting the effort in. So I'd be looking to late 2018 or early 2019 at the latest.

I like the idea

I agree with everyone else, a gap of 5-6 years seems excesive, that's why I keep hoping for DA4 for 2018...

edit: also, what I read is someone said that Weekes confirmed it, I didn't read anything directly from Weekes, and I take it that if he did, it was some time ago and that's why I never heard of it before.

And the reasoning for the new IP being the next release I think it's only because it's supposed to have been more time in development, but I know nothing of this kind of thing and, just the same that the "not earlier than spring 2019" estimate, is only what I gathered from the threads where people who seem to know more discussed the topic    I always keep an eye on those waiting for good news 

Well, they might not have a choice. The writers are the ones who constructed the story, but it's not like they get to decide when full production starts or when a game will be slated for release. And I'd be shocked if the people who do decide that care whether or not it benefits the story. This is the same company that rushed DA2, and to a lesser degree ME3, even though the story clearly suffered from it. They're also probably the same people who mandated Inquisition's empty open world.

That being said, as we can see from DA2 and ME3, clearly these people value quick turnaround over slow but detailed development. Also:

This. Neither Dragon Age or Mass Effect had a gap larger than four years between releases (DA had releases in November 2009, March 2011, and November 2014. ME had releases in November 2007, January 2010, and March 2012. So I guess it's technically been no more than three years, but four if you round the numbers.). Andromeda will likely be the largest at five, but since it's not a direct sequel they probably didn't immediately devote many resources to it.

Given all that information, 2020 seems weird to me, too. As I recall BioWare has three different studios - if all three are working on the separate franchises, then there's no reason to assume they have to finish the new IP before starting development on Dragon Age (Especially since the new IP was evidently being developed during both Andromeda's and Inquisition's development.) They won't start advertising it until the new IP's out, of course (Or vice versa if the releases are slotted in reverse, although I doubt that since we've seen open confirmation for the new IP while everyone's still pretending DA4 doesn't exist.) but that's just smarter advertising. 

...Hang on. Yes, they've rushed DA2, but they were also given additional development year for DAI (hence we have multiple races and additional romances, including the one favored in this thread ), and additional development time for MEA. You can't just focus on negative and completely omit the positive.

Also - while the writers might have concocted a story, I'm pretty sure all developers know what kind of product they're sending into the world. In fact, Bioware writers, at least in last times, are known to stick all through the project and consult with other dev teams all throughout development time.

Yes, because nobody really wants them to rush DA4, same way nobody wants to wait for it too long. I mean, it's not like it's just one or the other.

What is hoped here is that - after the hurdle with converting on Frostbite and all the other changes we hardly know of - resulted with Bioware knowing how to be more efficient in producing (and EA publishing) quality games.

Yet we see more and more publishers changing release dates in order for devs to polish their products.

This discussion has made me wonder, when they requested to push back the release date of DAI they were like, "Look business-people, we could release DAI on the current date but we're not gonna lie - it'll suck. Do you really want another DA2? Cause not giving us more time is how you get another DA2."


Disclaimer: I did not think DA2 was THAT bad. It wasn't a great game but I willingly played it multiple times and mostly enjoyed it.

It seems to me like you tend to assume the worst-case scenario - if not always, then enough to notice a pattern here. Right now it's an assume that the reason the games are delayed is because they're an unplayable mess. As it happens - no. And you have even an example of it in DAI, whose delay was not its "unplayability".

And the issue with Batman: Arkham Knight was not with the game as a whole, but specifically its shoddy PC port. The game released on consoles was fine and AFAIK garnered positive reviews.

That's not to say that some games didn't receive flack for being either unfinished or just designed bad, or that wasn't a decision for delay in case of some games. 

I think EA has definitely learned its lesson with SimCity in 2013. It was a spectacular fiasco, mostly due to EA's demand that it'd be constantly online (they eventually implemented offline mode, but at that time it was too late) and I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't one of the biggest turning points for the publisher in terms of how they view games as products, since we do see some improvements since then.

*pops in*

I love Solas above all the things on the Earth, but imo Dragon Age 2 was a far better game with a far better story and writing than Inquisition sry

*leaves again*

Yess! More Solas art
It's nice to see the new Solas thread up too.

so, uh. i drew solas.




link: tumblr

Hello, my name is Er'dhael and I'm fresh Solasmancer from far away. *gently bow*

My heart was broken at New Year's when fireworks were cheering me at defeating Corypheus.
I hope I can put my small tent in the corner and sob silently covered in feels.

Andaran atish’an.

SolasTax