inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on Jun 6, 2023 11:20:29 GMT
I would be very surprised if anything past a 20 second teaser that tells us absolutely nothing was shown. Actually, even this would very much surprise me. In that case, it’d definitely be best if they’ll wait for December. There’s no need for some vague teasers like that. The Fires Above trailer for DAI, while also vague, should be the least of what they should do in my opinion, next time they’ll show the game. Anything less is simply not worth the effort of going to an event.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on Jun 6, 2023 10:54:37 GMT
On the bright side, they’ll talk about good games and expansions at Summer Game Fest. Probably for the best trash like Dreadwolf doesn’t show up. I mean, putting aside DreadWolf, I’d be pleasantly surprised if all the games and expansions shown Thursday alone would be good. It certainly wasn’t the case in the past, and last year, from what I remember, it wasn’t a great event. In regards of DreadWolf being at the SGF, if Summer 2024 would be a more certain timeframe for release and not a tentative one, I’d say it should be quite possible the game would be shown there. One year of a true marketing campaign isn’t that long, and if things are going well, it shouldn’t be that problematic to fill the year with enough trailers and gameplay loops. Of course, we don’t know exactly how things are going and the way the rumours/leaks talked about the summer timeframe makes me thing it’s quite likely the game would slip towards Fall 2024. And in that scenario, it’d make more sense for them to show something at TGA. I’m not that optimistic on DreadWolf being shown, although this is entering the timeframe where I’m going to be less interested, given that there are rumours of other games I’m very interested about being shown, and FF XVI is right around the corner.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 19, 2023 21:12:34 GMT
I'd say that if there isn't an EA Play this year, the most likely showcase for Dreadwolf, if it'll be shown in summer, would be SGF, although the Xbox Showcase would be another possible event to look for (I'd look at it anyway, as rumours of P3 Remake being revealed/shown during it surfaced).
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 17, 2023 21:56:26 GMT
I wouldn't be *too* hopeful about the article's last point of Bioware showing DAD soon, even if Bioware retweeted the article Nor would I. To be a bit blunt, I suspect The Missing isn't selling very well, as it was not very well-received by the DA fandom as a whole. The retweet was probably just some token marketing. It could very well be, regardless of how well it's selling or not. Although I'm not sure if whoever works on the twitter page of Bioware has enough knowledge of the comics' selling.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 17, 2023 20:30:12 GMT
Well, given the characters and plot in the comics, it seems quite natural that there'd be deep ties between the former and the game. And it also reiterates the point about the protagonist as it was mentioned in the last teaser (whether the background of the new protagonist is the same or not as in the previous version of the game, before the shift, I'm not that sure, but it something we won't know for years, if ever.).
I wouldn't be *too* hopeful about the article's last point of Bioware showing DAD soon, even if Bioware retweeted the article, and even if I think there are still chances of a reveal in summer (as I still believe this game needs at least a full year of a good marketing campaign).
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 12, 2023 23:16:33 GMT
I wouldn't rule out the possibility of a trailer in June, although there are more chances now for one in December.
My thinking is that this game would need a full year of marketing campaign, unless they'd go all out in 7-8 months with constant informations. I think a marketing campaign like the one that Jedi Survivor had (which wasn't bad by any means), wouldn't work well with how far away the last game was, and the issues Bioware had in their recent games and overall as a company.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 10, 2023 23:39:53 GMT
Heh, while I had fun playing the Reaver/Berserker combo in DA2 and the Reaver in DAI, I'd agree in giving warriors a bit more love in the next game.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 10, 2023 11:21:26 GMT
The Jedi games are not even close to the extra mechanic complexity you need for a Dragon Age title. And DAD was rebooted again somewhere around 2021, so in 2024 that will be the same time Respawn needed for Survivor. Well, DA games became less complex and more actiony with every iteration so I'll believe the "complexity" when I actually see it. And yes, it got rebooted a few times, which is also a bad thing. What I was getting at was: how successful will it be compared to how much it has cost EA to produce - all the failed attempts included - compared to one of the Jedi games. It depends on how EA factors in those attempts. Either attempts weren’t exactly failures, though: the first was scrapped due to BioWare needing to pull all hands and devs towards Anthem (which is still Bioware’s responsibility, but I wouldn’t call it a failure from the DA team), and the second was due to, seemingly, EA and Bioware’s decision to shift towards SP. We don’t know if the reboot and shift to SP is due strictly to Anthem’s failure and EA’s re-evaluation of SP games (due to FO’s success), or troubled development/failure on the DA team in the second interaction of DA4, but at the moment there’s no knowledge or inside informations of the project being a failure before the shift.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 10, 2023 10:39:23 GMT
So, two more DAI playthroughs and a lot more DAIMP, and other games in the meantime... Of course would've wanted to play DA:D sooner. yeah mulling over that exact thing. I'm in such a weird place right now, as stated elsewhere that I'm technically running out of things to play again. Always room to replay and on that topic if Dreadwolf dropped soon would've worked out well to replay Inquisition with my canon Inquisitor. Now? Still a possible DAI sized hole out there just do I play with a new Inquisitior or create a new one? Eh, aside of FF XVI being released soon, BG3 should scratch the itch for a DA-like game for me, and more. I could see myself playing that game well into next year with different playthroughs and playstyles. Not surprising and not encouraging. They're taking more time than Respawn needed for either Jedi game and it remains to be seen whether they will be as successful. I think that’s an interesting question. Hopefully for Bioware EA’s expectations aren’t based on the 10 years between DAI and DAD. It is possible that they factored in the time needed for partially rebooting (if not more) the project after the shift to SP.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 10, 2023 3:45:31 GMT
I do also think there’s a possibility for a trailer this summer; although it’s true that given the release being at the earlier, most likely, in Fall 2024, they could theorically decide to skip the summer and show something directly at TGA.
But showing something this Summer with a release window in Fall 2024 would be what they did with DAI. While that marketing campaign wasn’t perfect, if development is going well they could release content across that period of time. I do think the game might need more then a six month marketing campaign to gather enough visibility and interest to succeed.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 10, 2023 1:05:57 GMT
Another discouraging note on this that slipped my mind... they announced that the ME team joined the Dreadwolf team. Typically a big indication of a final push aka crunch. Now this would be fine if it was going to be a short time, like 3-6 months, is fine and expected. But if this hold up then that is at least a year and more realistically 18 months. Of crunch mentality. And given this a pretty big indication that this game is continuing to have problems and is suffering from the same leadership problems that has plagued bioware aka bioware magic. Dosen't mean the game can't be amazing given the time with Inquisition, Andromeda, and DA 2 having similar issues. But this is quite discouraging. I think that’s a possibility, although it also depends on the aumont of people on hands. BioWare always did that even for the project with less development issues, like ME2. Again, it doesn’t mean that there’s not some issues going on, but I’d also argue that if the reasoning for all hands on deck is crunching to release the project, the release date should be realistically closer. As it stands, with the release that far away, and not even announced to the public and most importantly in this context, investors, it’s possible that they simply need more people working on DreadWolf because the game it too big for them to handle. We should always keep in mind that their studio isn’t as big as other big developers. I’d also say that DA2 is a different situations from those, as they didn’t need all hands on deck for Bioware’s management issues, but because EA gave them an impossible timeline to release the game.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 9, 2023 23:16:07 GMT
Ok, I caved and installed to see how it feels. Why Mind Flayers? Anything, but Mind Flayers! Probably the one thing I hate the most! Camera is a bit weird. Not enough zooming out. No difficulty settings yet. No Monk class, gah. Otherwise the game looks good and runs well. Loading seems to be a bit slow. Picked a Half-Elf Paladin. I never get far playing a Paladin. They are boring. I think I will mix it up and try to be a weird Paladin build to see if he survives. 5e should theorically allow players more freedom in playing paladins a bit differently from their standard version (putting aside the Oathbraker subclass), but I'm not sure how well it's translated in BG3, as the way I read how it works it might be difficult to regain said freedom. Maybe the Oath of Vengeance subclass might provide for such.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 9, 2023 23:11:58 GMT
I'm not saying that something wrong isn't necessarily going on, but I don't think the timeline from when the game got in the alpha stage of development of the comic tie-in is necessarily a sign of something wrong happening.
To reiterate, FF XVI was shown last year in Summer (after two years of no informations on the game), with a beefy trailer, the development team saying the game was basically done at that point, and they still announced a release window of one year later. It went gold almost 3 months before release.
It was possible that they'd have shown Dreadwolf this summer and then release the game in less then 6 months, or less then a year? Yes. It doesn't mean that it was likely, expecially considering we saw nothing in-game from the game, and the last teaser we got was before a semi-reboot if not a total reboot.
Considering Bioware's past, and Dreadwolf's development in particular, I think it's possible that there are some issues, but I think there are also good possibilities that those are at least partially due the needs related to the shift to a fully SP experience, as well as possible feedback on how much they need to change in different areas of the game due to it.
It's also better if they take the time they need to sort out issues, bugs and glitches and develop as much as a decent to good experience, performance wise, then possible.
Granted, we won't know for sure if the game's development is going good regardless of what they'll show onwards, and it is true that regardless of the release window, the longer they'll take to show something substantial the more likely it'll be that something is wrong.
I just think showing the game at this point is more important then any kind of release window. And this is something we'll have a better picture of next month.
The 10 years (at least) between DAI and DAD are indeed long, but no matter the state the game is at the moment, it's fair to point out that it hasnt' been 10 straight years of development hell/issues. The game's development was stopped one time and reeboted (without starting in full right away), and the semi-rebooted a few years back. I mantain the opinion that the shift wasn't that seamless, but it's also something we might not know for years.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 9, 2023 21:00:09 GMT
I'd say Dreadwolf is in a vague limbo in terms of announcment, but I'd agree with Hrungr and being not 'truly' announced.
I wasn't expecting DAD to come out this year, and I wasn't that confident on the game coming out in early 2024.
I don't mind the wait, but concerns on the project are going to rise the more time it passes since the game isn't shown. Showing the game during June with a full year of marketing wouldn't be bad. FF XVI followed this approach, from last year to release in a month or so, and it was shown beforehand, although the wait compared to DAD wasn't nearly as long.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 6, 2023 6:04:32 GMT
I don't think the game will be released in 2025. I'd say the shift in itself doesn't necessarily mean a more story centric design, but it doesn't make sense to me for them to shift towards SP without doing so. Again, it doesn't mean the story would necessarily be good, but that's a separate issue from the story being but on the backside. You can have a live service game that focuses heavily on the story (The Old Republic) and you can have a single player game that does not. Whether shifting from a live service increases or decreases the story significance of the game depends on the type of live service that was being planned and the type of single player game that is being planned. Who knows, the live service game that was being planned could have been packed with story elements, "live service" doesn't really tell us any such information. Your talk about ME:A is a very good example. It was originally similar to NMS, which is not story focused despite being single player. You’re right, in theory, but given the context of what was happening with BioWare/EA as a whole, with Anthem’s failure and shut down being quite connected, at least in terms of timeline, so DreadWolf’s shift, as well as the success of SW Fallen Order likely influencing EA in giving more freedom to developers in making SP games, I think there are more chances of DreadWolf’s new interaction being more story focused then the previous one. On a vacuum, what you said it’s possible, but I don’t think in the context of shifting from the live service, coop based game Dreafwolf was, supposedly, to a SP game, would bring us less focus on the story. We can’t know for sure, of course, and it’s unlikely that we’ll have definite answers in June, if they indeed show off the game, unless it’s a huge reveal beyond a trailer.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 6, 2023 4:15:07 GMT
Of course, we wouldn't know for certain until the game is out, and even if they reversed the stance and issues Gaider was talking about, again, it's not a guarantee the writing of the game will be good. But I think it makes little sense for Bioware/EA to shift Dreadwolf into a SP-only game and still pushing aside the writing (Assuming this was happening, in any case, with the original version of Dreadwolf). I guess we'll all know in 2025 (or whenever the game eventually releases). That being said shifting back to single player and away from the live service model doesn't by itself mean a shift back to a story centric design. They could still be chasing after their Skyrim dreams and emphasise exploration and minimal, juvenile style writing ala ME:A I don't think the game will be released in 2025. I'd say the shift in itself doesn't necessarily mean a more story centric design, but it doesn't make sense to me for them to shift towards SP without doing so. Again, it doesn't mean the story would necessarily be good, but that's a separate issue from the story being but on the backside. I don't think Andromeda was a result of them chasing after Skyrim. Inquisition was a result of the criticism of DA2's world and Skyrim's success (the same could be said for other games though, like TW3), and while the open world nature of rpgs/games, even to this day, are influenced by Skyrim, and even more GTA V, Andromeda's 'emphasis' on exploration was most likely a result of the game's concept and development for most of the time being centered about the idea of a procedural game, like NMS. They did try a turnaround for a more story-centric game, among other things (the original concept was seemingly a mess), but had to rush to release the game in a semi-functional state. Whether Dreadwolf will be a good game or not, will have a good story or not, it seemingly had more development time and budget to work with after the shift then Andromeda.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 5, 2023 20:15:55 GMT
Hm... It's May 5th... 5 months into the year and nary a peep, sound or tweet about the game. A while months back, the devs couldn't stop "tweeting".
What just happened?
(◔‿◔) ________________________ ===================
The clown in me is thinking: - 4 days until the big EA shareholder meeting
- 5 days until issue # of The Missing and the Dragon Age vinyl are released
- Mark Darrah said in his "Guess Who's Coming Back To BioWare?" video a month ago: "I expect more to be shared soonish." with regard to expos and trailers.
- June (and aaaaaall of those game events) is just a few weeks away
Given that they need to properly show off the game, since even the last teaser didn't really show anything (we didn't even have a name at the time), and that's without considering the shift to SP, a proper 'reveal' at EA Play makes sense, to kick-off, hopefully, the marketing campaign until release. I do wonder if the shareholder meeting would also reveal something about DA, though.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 5, 2023 20:12:20 GMT
Hm... It's May 5th... 5 months into the year and nary a peep, sound or tweet about the game. A while months back, the devs couldn't stop "tweeting".
What just happened?
(◔‿◔) ________________________ ===================
I think lots of developers left or opted to reduce their time on that platform. In terms of actual content/trailer being shown, I always figured they'd go for June and EA Play to show off the game. Granted, nothing prevented them to release a trailer beforehand, so questions about development not going well are fair, but I guess we'll have a clearer picture next month.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 5, 2023 19:03:31 GMT
I'm still not completely sure what to make of that design choice. I suspect the background dialogue/pads may have been mostly written after the bulk of the main story was hammered out. That, or they were easier to fully implement in a timely fashion during the absolute shitstorm that were the 18 Months Of DevelopmentTM. Honestly, the latter's looking a bit more likely, if I were to pick between these two.
Yeah, I think they didn't have to do anything more then background dialogue/pads, given the issues during development, as well as the radical shift from the procedural game that Andromeda was supposed to be to the one we got.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 5, 2023 13:48:42 GMT
Of course. We have no clue about the quality of the writing of Dreadwolf...among basically everything. And Bioware reversing their stance from what Gaider was saying doesn't mean the quality of the writing would be good. I just think that, if we apply Gaider's words in context of what was happening in the last few months he was there (Andromeda being conceptualized and worked on as a procedural-based game like NMS, and Anthem being a live service game with a heavy focus on multiplayer), as well as the fact that Dreadwolf was seemingly a live-service game focused on coop, before the shift in SP, it makes sense that the shift to SP should've reasonably meant a bigger emphasis on the writing, in a similar vein of most of Bioware games. Is it possible that, despite the shift to SP, they mantained their stance about writing that Gaider was mentioning, or even got a worse one? Yes. But I don't think it makes sense for that to have happened in concert with the shift to a SP-only game. And I think there are good chances that the time passed between the last trailer we got at TGA (which personally gave me big vibes of a live service/coop-based game) to now is at least partially due to the developers having to adapt what they had at the time to work on a fully SP game, in various areas of the game, writing included. Don't fall into the trap of assuming the writing will be good just because of the shift from MP to SP. That reflects a change in gameplay loop (and possibly monetization), not necessarily reflecting the quality of the writing. SP focus doesn't automatically mean the writing will be good, just like MP focus doesn't automatically mean the writing will be bad. The first thing that needs to be prevalent is attitude. That will influence the amount of work, seriousness, and respect a writer is willing to put in (also is allowed to by others with a specific attitude or viewpoint, be it similar to the writer or different). If someone's attitude is that writing is easy and anyone can write, they are less willing to do research, do multiple drafts, seek out honest peer feedback and take it seriously in order to improve, or let others do so. This is very obvious in many self published books where so many authors think writing is easy and the quality of those books speaks for itself in stories that are tone-deaf, prose is wonky, vocabulary is questionable, characters are living tropes etc. DAD going from MP to SP focus doesn't automatically mean the attitude towards writing changed. MEA also changed its focus and half of the writing in that game is questionable, at best, because the attitude of what it should be didn't change enough or didn't change in time to salvage it completely. If the change in focus on the gameplay was done without a change in attitude on the writing, the writing could reflect a sense of hostility from writers being forced to write complex stories when all they wanted was to do the bare minimum and just have more of a gameplay focus. Of course, on the other side of the coin, the change in focus could have been accompanied by a change in attitude. Patrick Weeks is someone I believe cares for complex stories and others on the writing team are like them, Darrah saying there are many DA veterans there. One can only hope that this is the case until the game comes out and we all see what the writing ends up being like. I agree, which is why I said in the first part that the stance on writing being reversed doesn't necessarily means the writing would be good. I think in regards of MEA, regardless of the opinion about the game/its writing, the key point is your speculation about the change being too late. They tried to salvage the project with the change from the procedural, NMS-like game that it was supposed to be towards the one it was at the end, but they didn't have enough time and possibly budget. It was, most likely, a similar rushed effort that we got with DA2 (for different reasons). Dreadwolf was reported to shift from MP to SP in early 2021, so there have been at least two full years since then, so far, and by the time of release the game would've been in development as fully SP for at least 3 years. Compared to Andromeda, it should have enough time to reverse the previous stance. Again, I don't think this means the writing will be necessarily good, as well as the game. But I think in terms of development it should have a better change then what Andromeda got with its own issues and shift from the original concept.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 4, 2023 22:16:57 GMT
I'd say that it's fair to have concerns about the quality of the game, and in regards of this particular topic, the writing of the game.
I think, howewer, that there are good chances issues that Gaider mentioned aren't present any longer, or at least, the company got back towards an emphasis on the writing.
Gaider left the company in a period where Bioware/EA where working on a game, Andromeda, who was supposed to be a procedural game like NMS, and Anthem (which Gaider worked on), which, among its many development issues, was also supposed to be a live service game with a focus on coop gameplay. His words about the company moving away/putting aside the writing fit with what was happening.
Furthermore, Dreadwolf was supposed to be a live service game with possibly a focus on coop, before the shift to a SP-only game. It makes sense, to me, that the shift to SP-only also lead to a bigger emphasis on the writing.
Of course, we wouldn't know for certain until the game is out, and even if they reversed the stance and issues Gaider was talking about, again, it's not a guarantee the writing of the game will be good.
But I think it makes little sense for Bioware/EA to shift Dreadwolf into a SP-only game and still pushing aside the writing (Assuming this was happening, in any case, with the original version of Dreadwolf).
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 4, 2023 22:05:06 GMT
My take is that Gaider's issues reflect Bioware and EA as of 2016. They are not necessarily reflective of the company now. That's not to say that there won't be issues, but the issues will hopefully not be the ones Gaider is describing. By the same token...things could be WORSE. Of course. We have no clue about the quality of the writing of Dreadwolf...among basically everything. And Bioware reversing their stance from what Gaider was saying doesn't mean the quality of the writing would be good. I just think that, if we apply Gaider's words in context of what was happening in the last few months he was there (Andromeda being conceptualized and worked on as a procedural-based game like NMS, and Anthem being a live service game with a heavy focus on multiplayer), as well as the fact that Dreadwolf was seemingly a live-service game focused on coop, before the shift in SP, it makes sense that the shift to SP should've reasonably meant a bigger emphasis on the writing, in a similar vein of most of Bioware games. Is it possible that, despite the shift to SP, they mantained their stance about writing that Gaider was mentioning, or even got a worse one? Yes. But I don't think it makes sense for that to have happened in concert with the shift to a SP-only game. And I think there are good chances that the time passed between the last trailer we got at TGA (which personally gave me big vibes of a live service/coop-based game) to now is at least partially due to the developers having to adapt what they had at the time to work on a fully SP game, in various areas of the game, writing included.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 4, 2023 4:15:11 GMT
It should also be noted that Gaider worked on Anthem as his last project at BioWare, so his experience could’ve been impacted by that project. Between it and Andromeda’s concept and early stage of development being a NMS-like game, I could see how the last period he was at BioWare it seemed that the company was moving away from the writing, at least in the way it normally worked at BioWare.
Again, it doesn’t mean those issues he talked about are necessarily gone, but the shift towards SP for DAD should at least indicate a different direction then what the project was going for before.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on May 3, 2023 20:52:41 GMT
With the writers strike now on in the US, I wonder how DA4 is affected. Will it have a blockbuster story and engaging chars or will Bio substitute hard writer work with romance as a gamer placebo?
As to Gaider's comments, I believe he has a point. Andromeda suffered from poor writing at times. Anthem moved away from RPG to action or I should say more action than story telling. Then, look at the DA4 leak and read the comments about the game. IMO, these are all clues about where they point to the game's direction.
(◔‿◔) ____________________________ ======================
I don't see how the strike is going to affect DA4 in any way, both because it's a separate media and because it should be too late for the former to affec tthe latter. On regards of Gaider's post I could definitely see a point based on the direction Bioware was moving forward up to the shift to SP for Dreadwolf. I'd say Andromeda's issues might be more related to the fact that Bioware rushed to put together the game in the direction they went for at the end...but the initial idea of the game being a NMS-like game could be seen as a way to decrease the aumont of writing needed. I think that with the shift to SP for DAD, it should be reasonable to expect Bioware/EA to not put the writing on the backseat of the game, and Darrah's comments other mentioned before could be interpreted in them going in a good direction, writing-wise. Whether the writing of the game would be good or not, we won't know for a while, but that's a separate issue.
|
|
inherit
104
0
6,879
The Elder King
5,753
August 2016
theelderking
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Jade Empire
19631
|
Post by The Elder King on Mar 31, 2023 10:24:21 GMT
Very good corpo speak - very polite deflections without giving out any actual information, and as always, the most interesting things are the ones not being said. I don't think he has a choice though and he has to look out for his (former?) company.
Agreed. He's view about party control not in the DNA of Dragon Age is wrong. It does, however, imply/confirm that DA4 will be a hack&slash combat type game.
Personally, I believe the game development took a wrong direction. We'll see what MD can do but don't expect me to buy the game at launch. I see frustrations playing it. $39 is the amount I'm willing to pay to play with frustrations. (◔‿◔) __________________ ==============
Combat is one of the most divisive features of DA in the fan base, although if we’re taking strictly about party control, that’s something I think most people would agree that it should be in regardless of the combat being more action based or not (although it’s not difficult to implement in this scenario). I do agree that the game will likely be very action based in terms of combat. It’s certainly a decision that will split the fanbase, but I don’t think it’s the core issue in regards of the success of the game. While it’s not been released yet, FF XVI is going through a similar thing in regards of combat change (I’d say even further, in a way), and despite the split in regards of it the game seems to have garnered positive attention.
|
|